The province’s announcement Tuesday for an expansion to Stratford Elementary is a short-term solution for overcrowding, say some of the area’s parents.
In a presentation to the Public Schools Branch (PSB) board of directors during a meeting at Montague Consolidated last night, Lindy McQuillan, a district advisory council rep for Stratford Elementary and a Home and School volunteer, said there needs to be long-term solutions to address overcrowding in some Stratford and Charlottetown schools.
While the expansion will alleviate some overcrowding, she noted, it is a short-term solution.
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“I would call it a Band-Aid solution,” said McQuillan, who has one son attending Birchwood Intermediate and another in Stratford Elementary. “As a community, not only in Stratford but the greater Charlottetown area, we have some larger needs, and we need long-term planning in order to have those addressed.”
In her presentation, McQuillan relied on forecasted population numbers from the Public Schools Branch, which she felt underestimated future enrolment.
She said the numbers suggest overcrowding will start at Colonel Gray and Charlottetown Rural next year “and goes as high as 400 too many children (between the two schools) within just four to five years.”
McQuillan also used graphs to demonstrate her fear that there will soon be overcrowding at Stonepark and Birchwood while Queen Charlotte will be underutilized.
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A recommendation was made by the PSB’s board of directors last year to conduct further analysis on the two high school catchment areas, although there will be no changes for at least the next two school years.
“We haven’t heard anything about what the long-term plan is for high school, and it’s been almost a year. Considering how long it takes to make change happen, we can’t continue to wait,” said McQuillan.
Members of the PSB’s board of directors thanked McQuillan following her presentation.
Board member Harvey McEwen said the board’s first priority last summer was addressing rezoning challenges and that the Stratford expansion was a necessary short-term solution.
“We needed something right away in that area, as quickly as possible, so overcrowding could be addressed,” said McEwen. “I think we always have to be planning ahead; probably if we planned ahead five years ago we wouldn’t be facing (this) situation.”
PSB director Parker Grimmer said members appreciate McQuillan’s presentation and that the board has just finished a period of heavy consultation with the public to address overcrowded and underutilized schools.
He said the reason the board has asked to hold off on changes to the school’s catchment areas for two years in order to identify the best solution.
“(So we can) study and look at what the best choice and decisions will be,” said Grimmer, noting the branch is responsible for 56 schools throughout the province, many of which are experiencing population growth. “We have to takes some time to work together to plan and prepare, and I think its good we have these conversations now so we can prepare for the future.
“We appreciate people have issues in their areas and we want to hear about them. We also recognize it’s our responsibility to be listening to all of the nineteen and a half thousand students that we serve.”
