'No spare space': Harbour Landing joint-use school approaches legal capacity limits
Parents are raising concerns about overcrowding at the joint-use school in Harbour Landing as the building approaches its legal capacity limits.
The joint-use school opened in September 2017 and houses both Harbour Landing School and St. Kateri Tekakwitha School.
Kathleen Eisler, chair of the Harbour Landing School Community Council, has four kids who attend the elementary school.
She said overcrowding has always been an issue, but it has reached a crisis point.
“Although there’s more students, none of the resources have been increased to go with it,” Eisler said.
“It does have a strain on those students. It has a strain on what type of help you’re going to be able to receive. It has a strain on what extra resources there are available.”
The library has been reduced to a small area at the bottom of the stairs while temporary walls were put up to create a classroom, Eisler said. The school no longer has a choir for similar reasons.
“Some of the clubs have had to take a step back just because they haven’t been able to handle the volumes and there is no space to do those things. There’s no spare space,” she said.
The Ministry of Education calculates enrolment numbers based on full time equivalency (FTE). Kindergarten students count as 0.5 of an FTE while all other grade students count as one FTE.
Harbour Landing School was originally designed for 675 FTEs, while St. Kateri was designed for 575. Both include the use of eight relocation classrooms.
When the schools opened in September 2017, Harbour Landing enrolment was at 630 FTEs and St. Kateri had 463.
As of September 2022, Harbour Landing School exceeded its capacity with 945 FTEs, while St. Kateri’s enrolment sat at 608 FTEs.
“Safety is probably my biggest concern,” Eisler said. “The only reason we are in the building and fire marshals have considered it safe is because they depend on a 10 per cent absenteeism rate each and every day.”
Factoring in teachers, the entire building is approaching 2,000 people, according to public school board trustee Adam Hicks.
“We’re actually getting very close to hitting the legal limits of where we actually can’t allow people in this building,” Hicks said.
“There’s no Christmas concerts, no assemblies, Remembrance Day ceremonies because you can’t fit any extra people in here.”
Minister of Education Dustin Duncan, along with Regina MLAs, toured the joint-use school with Eisler and Hicks on Thursday morning.
Duncan declined an interview request from CTV News.
In an emailed statement, the Ministry of Education said it is aware of the capacity concerns at the school and continues to work closely with the school boards.
Both the public and Catholic School Divisions were unavailable for comment.
The Saskatchewan government announced funding for a new joint-use school in Harbour Landing in the 2020-21 provincial budget.
The ministry said it is in negotiations with the City of Regina and the Ministry of SaskBuilds and Procurement to secure a location for the new school, and it is “eager to move forward and expedite the site selection.”
CTV News asked the city about the negotiations and timeline for a decision in order to move forward on the project.
City officials responded with a statement that confirmed “the City of Regina is continuing discussions with the Government of Saskatchewan and both the Regina Catholic and Regina Public school boards on proposed locations for a new school in the Harbour Landing community.”
Hicks said the school board is looking into options to address overcrowding in the interim.
In the last few years, the Harbour Landing School French immersion program was moved to Dr. A.E. Perry School. As a result, roughly 200 students living in Harbour Landing are bussed to the either side of Lewvan Drive for school, according to Hicks.
Eisler said bussing more students out of the area might be the only solution to the capacity concerns. However, all three elementary schools nearby are at or nearing capacity, according to Hicks.
“We know that there is going to be a lot of upset people because we are at the point where we have to make some really tough decisions,” Hicks said.
A public engagement meeting will be held in March to discuss some of the possible solutions moving forward.
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