Maxed out: Classroom portables likely in some SD #22 schools

Classroom portables may need to be built at some School District #22 schools as the district grapples with a steady increase in enrollment and overcapacity.

At Wednesday’s board meeting it was revealed regular school enrollment numbers jumped from 8216 students last year to 8325 students this year, although the district cautions that enrollment numbers are subject to fluctuations throughout the month of September.

A district staff member told VernonMatters that Hillview Elementary School’s grade 6 and 7 classes are currently full as are some classrooms at Silver Star Elementary.

“We are quite full at most of the other elementary schools, quite full at VSS and Seaton, we’ve got a little bit of room at Kal and Fulton,” explained Superintendent Joe Rogers at Wednesday’s meeting.

“One of the tasks over the next year or so will have to be to look at our five-year plan around infrastructure and where the growth will be, and be able to set those standards moving forward,” he added.

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The district estimates three to four portables will be needed by next year each costing around $165,000.

A grand total of $660,000 has been allocated for portable funding in the draft operating surplus plan.

“The positive part of this is that we have some money to spend,” Rogers said.

“We just want to make sure we have portables in place based on the projections we get from Interior Health around the number of babies that were born five years ago, what the kindergarten numbers are going to look like so whether that’s Silver Star, Alexis Park, Hillview or Coldstream, we are going to make those portables by next September.”

The draft operating surplus plan was passed by the Board of Education Wednesday, but what schools receive portables has yet to be finalized.