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Portables not ideal, but necessary in Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district

School district repairs portables and builds them from scratch
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Pete Sabo, left and Justin Taylor, SD68 executive director of planning and operations and manager of capital implementation, respectively, in front of portables on the Nanaimo District Secondary School site. (Karl Yu/News Bulletin)

More students and lack of space have Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools placing students in portable classrooms and while it’s not the perfect situation, it is necessary, officials say.

Nanaimo District Secondary School, with 1,550-student capacity, is one of the schools facing a capacity crunch. Enrolment reached 1,636 in 2022-23, with 1,680 students forecast for 2023-24. To remedy the situation, two portables will be relocated to the site, making eight in total.

According to Pete Sabo, Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district executive director of planning and operations, there are 83 portables in use across the district, with 73 being used as classrooms and the others in various support functions.

“Portables are, unfortunately, a necessary part of space provision for schools, because the district is not able to construct space, nor can the ministry fund, in a timely manner, for the variability of enrolment,” said Sabo. “We do have a process where we review our enrolments … at the end of September and start to think about enrolment pressures for the following year, and start to consider where portable moves might be necessary.”

While having students in a bricks-and-mortar classroom is ideal, portables are not without benefit. Old portables are completely renovated and retrofitted with heat pumps and modern fixtures, converted into what the district calls “learning studios,” with that work done primarily at the Woodlands school site. The district also uses the experience to build “child-care modulars” for 10 provincially approved child-care projects across the district. The district said 18 modular units will be built for 10 sites.

A majority of the work is done by district staff and students in the youth in trades program at NLPS Learning Alternatives, according to Justin Taylor, school district manager of capital implementation.

“There’s a program running out of that school where the kids get exposure to different trades – carpentry, electrical or plumbing – and there’s also a work experience program where students might do a ‘ride along’ with one of our tradespeople to let them look into what a trade looks like,” he said.

Jeff Virtanen, CUPE Local 606 president, said work on portables originally consisted of repairs, but has evolved.

“We go right from the very beginning, getting the permits through the city. Our guys are constructing them, our plumbers are working on them, our HVAC guys, our electricians…” he said. “Some of our portables were in horrible shape … We repaired these portables and the next natural step was actually building them from scratch.”

The Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association stated that portables aren’t ideal, but are needed in the current environment, while the Nanaimo District Parent Advisory Council said conversion work makes them better suited for learning.

“I understand that sometimes there are challenges beyond the control of our district, at the ministry level in terms of supply, and in terms of regulations surrounding portables, and so it’s challenging, but I also believe that we need to find facilities solutions that are appropriate for teachers,” said Jo Cornthwaite, Nanaimo District Teachers’ Association president. “Portables are meant to be a short-term solution to a facilities problem, not a long-term one.”

Jessica Krog-Irving, DPAC chairperson, said the learning studios are nice spaces since HVAC systems were upgraded.

“They are what they are…” she said. “It’s not nearly as bad as it was when I went to school in the ’90s.”

In an e-mail, the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care stated Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district is responsible ensuring maintenance and operation of portables is done in a manner “that best meet the needs of the local community, students, families and staff.”

“Overall, portable use provincewide has remained relatively stable since 2016-17, despite significant enrolment growth,” the ministry said.

So as the school year progresses, bricks-and-mortar and portable classrooms will be used to educate close to 15,000 students in Nanaimo-Ladysmith.

“In reality, definitely we’d prefer brand new schools, but that’s not going to happen, so this is the next best thing I think,” said Virtanen.

RELATED: SD68 headed towards 26% overcapacity in next 10 years

RELATED: NDSS stays as Gabriola’s catchment school, overcrowding unresolved



karl.yu@nanaimobulletin.com

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Karl Yu

About the Author: Karl Yu

I joined Black Press in 2010 and cover education, court and RDN. I am a Ma Murray and CCNA award winner.
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