École LaVérendrye has already lost the following: a dedicated music room, art room, library, resource/special education space, and daily gym time for students at all levels from nursery to Grade 6. At LaVérendrye, every classroom counts as a home room for students and is in use at all times during the school day. A portable classroom was completed September 29, 2014 to accommodate the high enrolment numbers.
In January 2015, parents realized that, for the 2015/2016 school year, LaVérendrye would have 15 classes of students to fit into 14 classrooms. The only way to make this work would be if the sole computer lab was converted into another classroom, meaning that students would lose the last dedicated educational space in the school. As a result, the school’s Before & After care program would also lose 25 of its spaces as the program currently does not use classroom space for childcare – 17% of its 150 spaces would be eliminated. As with all school communities, accessibility to convenient and affordable childcare is a driving issue for parents.
If there are 16 classes in the 2015/2016 school year, at minimum LaVérendrye would require the installation of a second portable classroom. This would take even more space away from the playing field at a cost of $60 000 - $100 000 to taxpayers while still bringing only temporary relief to the population pressures.
The École LaVérendrye building is solid and the WSD has committed to the installation of Wi-Fi throughout École LaVérendrye, as well as to renovating the existing washrooms which, while adequate for 280 students, do not meet the needs of 360 students plus staff. Construction should also begin shortly on a new gym with music room, computer lab/library and resource room.
While these developments are welcome, they will not increase the number of classrooms available for fall 2015. There is also no way that LaVérendrye can meet the province’s mandate to have 20 students/class from kindergarten to Grade 3 by 2017 in the classroom spaces now available.
On January 19th, 2015, the École LaVérendrye Community Council presented the case for a full school trade with Earl Grey School to the WSD based on the following:
- the schools are three blocks away from each other, in the same community;
- most of the students from both schools come from within the immediate neighbourhood;
- while École LaVérendrye is over capacity, Earl Grey is under capacity;
- it solves the immediate, urgent overcrowding at LaVérendrye while giving time to WSD administration to devise and implement a plan for French Immersion milieu/dual track junior high schools, who will have to handle this population influx in a few years;
- this is the most economical solution for taxpayers.
