An elementary school in Drummondville is facing a very rare problem for English schools: overcrowding.
There are no additional classrooms at Drummmondville Elementary.
“I was very surprised to see that my students had drawn up a list at recess of things they'd like to see in their school,” said Grade 6 teacher Kathy Napier. “It made me really sad to think one of the things a 12-year-old dreamed of having in his school is a janitor's closet.”
The school is packed with repurposed spaces: what was once the janitor's closet is now an elevator for students with disabilities; the French room doubles as a supply closet; and the only bathroom in the school of nearly 250 students is in the gym.
“The bathroom being in the gym too is difficult because kids are interrupting gym class all the time. We don't have a library, we don't have a French classroom anymore,” said principal Dany Grenon.
Staff and the Eastern Townships School Board are asking the education ministry for a new building, but say so far they haven’t had any response.
When the school opened in the late 1990s, there were fewer than 100 students, but the staff says the school has grown because francophone parents who went to school in English are now choosing to send their children to anglophone schools, too.
“One of the real challenges is that there are people who want to come here despite the fact that there are far better schools that have been built for the French school board,” said Michael Murray, chairman of the Eastern Townships School Board.
“We feel we're not being treated on an equitable basis by the government,” he said.
Lunch and recess has had to be split into two different times, because there is not enough room for the children to plan on the playground.
This year, the final empty space was turned into a classroom.
“Before, we used to have a cafeteria and eat at the same time, but now the school keeps growing and growing and we need to eat in our class,” said Grade 6 student Heidi Boivert-Dionne.
Enrollment is still on the rise for next year.
