There are more students currently enrolled in Duchess Park Secondary School than fit in the building.
The capacity status of the school was one of the final topics that the outgoing school board addressed at their Oct. 30 regular public meeting.
The enrolment count at Duchess Park Secondary School for this year was 1,030 students; that's 25 students fewer than in 2017 but still more than 100 students higher than the school’s 900 student capacity.
“The school district has been working to construct a sound, long-range plan to address student accommodation within schools over the past two years,” said Trustee Bruce Wiebe, who delivered the report on the current initiatives underway to address the problem.
Strategies used the school's administration and staff over the past few years have involved a creative use of space and adding X and Y instructional blocks that scheduled outside the regular student timetable.
For example, one Grade 10 math class is meeting for instruction in the Art room, and the French Immersion Math 10 class is meeting in the school's conference room.
“In looking at how the staff has accommodated the needs of the school over this coming year, I, too, say that they have done an incredible job trying to use the space they have as creatively as they can,” said Trustee Sharel Warrington, adding the board needs to consider “the gift of space."
“How effective is it to meet in an open conference room for a class? Having been a teacher for many years, space is a gift; when we think about the short term we must not fall into a trap of thinking this is going to be able to continue for any length of time.”
Warrington noted that she urges the incoming board to move quickly to address the capacity issue at the school.
Duchess Park is home to three programs: an English program, a French Immersion program and a School District 93 francophone program.
“We — as a board — met with the staff at Duchess Park and we heard them speak passionately about how they like the composition of their school right now,” said Trustee Tony Cable, noting the three different programs.
“I agree that space is a gift but we also have to look at what the parents and what the teachers like about Duchess Park and they like the composition of the school and are willing to make it work. But you definitely need to find some solutions.”
The board has established the Catchment and Capacity Review Stakeholder Advisory Committee to address the issue of overcapacity in the district which meets and reports annually.
The new board of directors, who will be responsible for the ongoing work on capacity, will be sworn in at the Nov. 6 Board of Education meeting.
