New schools will be crowded, says parents group

Nine new schools planned for Calgaryare being designed with classrooms larger than necessary for recommended class sizes, and the head of a parents group fears the schools will subsequently become "jam-packed."

Each new school built under a private-public partnership (P3) has a permanent core facility, surrounded by modular classrooms.

According to the plans, schools expected to hold 400 students will have 16 classrooms and the schools holding 450 students will have 18 classrooms, said Laura Shutiak, president of Calgary Association of Parents and School Councils.

That works out to 25children per room, even though the province recommends class sizes of 17 for kindergarten to Grade 3 students.

"If the province is saying the school is built for 400 kids, parents want 400 kids to be in that school. The reality is it's going to be jam-packed," said Shutiak.

Teachers in the new school could very well wind up holding classes in a staff room or another non-traditional setting to accommodate the province's enrolment numbers, she said.

"If they are going to put 400 students in a school, they're going to have far more teachers than classrooms and they're going to have to figure out ways to deal with it."

Province says design allows for flexibility

A spokeswoman for the province, Kathy Telfer,said the design will allow for flexibility, but thatbigger classrooms are not meant to open the door to larger classes.

"We know they [school boards] need flexibility in decision making at the local level. It's like a kindergarten class when the 18th child shows up. You do not divide the class into nine students per [room]."

But Shutiak said it would make more sense to build smaller classrooms and set the school enrolment accordingly.

Babcock and Brown Public Partnerships was chosen to build and maintain 18 new schools in Edmonton and Calgary.

The schools six public and three separate schools in each city are scheduled to be built by July 2010. Most of the schools will hold children from kindergarten to Grade 4, but some willhave students in Grade 6 or Grade 9.

The winning bidder also has a 30-year contract to do major maintenance and repairs, such as replacing boilers and roofs. Ownership will remain with the school boards.