Paradise parents demand solutions to school overcrowding

A gymnasium full of frustrated parents voiced their concerns Thursday night about overcrowding at a Paradise elementary school.

The Newfoundland and Labrador English School District says Holy Family Elementary can comfortably accommodate about 600 students. But there are currently 858 kids enrolled at the school, and that number is expected to go above 900 next year.

Many parents have complained that the building isnot big enough to handle that many students, with reports of long lineups for bathrooms, andno cafeteria or library because those rooms are being used for teaching.

A new elementary school is slated to open in Paradise in September2016. Until then, the board says temporary classrooms will have to be added or students will have to be bused to St.John's.

Better planning needed

Parent James Reid was at Thursday night'smeeting and said the school board needs to start planning now for a junior high school so this problem doesn't happen again.

"There's no surprise that the population in Paradise is growing. There's insufficient infrastructure," he told CBC News. "If you don't plan today for junior high, it's not going to be built overnight. You're looking at four years."

"The planning has to be done in advance of the school. If it's not, you find yourself in this situation with extreme overcrowding."

Long bus rides

Lori Greene, whosesix-year-old son walks to school at Holy Family every day, said her family moved to theneighbourhood so her son wouldn't have to take the bus.

"It takes him five minutes to walk home and he plays outdoors for an hour," she said.

"Now he'll be on an hour bus ride, come home, try to do his homework, he won't be able to go to hockey or anything like that now."

Insufficient space

Another parent, Stephen Fitzpatrick, said the long bus ride would be better than adding temporary classrooms ata school that already doesn't have space for much more than desks.

"The parking lot is not getting any bigger, they're not adding a music room or a library or anything like that," he said.

"They're just adding students, which is not really solving theproblem."

School board trustees will vote on which temporary solution to go with busing orportable classrooms on March 12.