No expansion for West Royalty Elementary this year

There will not be an expansion coming to West Royalty Elementary this year.

The previous Liberal government committed to construction at five Island schools to deal with overcrowding. Part of that commitment was a new wing for West Royalty Elementary.

The one-storey addition would have included 10 additional classrooms, support spaces and would allow 200 more students to attend the school, said a press release sent out by the then Liberal government in February.

P.E.I.'s PC minority government is notplanning on adding that expansion this year.

Officials with P.E.I.'s Department of Education say the capital budget contains $20 million in new projects in education.

The West Royalty Expansion is not one of those planned projects.

Vladimir Fomin's daughter goes to West Royalty Elementary and he said he is disappointed to hear the expansion won't be going ahead this year.

"The community is growing and it's a need, a need that we need more space for the kids. And it is unfortunate that the government decided to stop on that," Fomin said.

Fomin said he believes the school is running at full capacity and needs to expand.

Rebecca Barrett also has a child attending Grade 2 at the school. She also said the schoolneeds to expand.

"The parking lot, if nothing else, is kind of a disaster in the mornings. It's really crammed with parents trying to get their kids dropped off," she said.

Barrett said playgrounds at the school are also "really close together."

"I don't find it is crowded inside as much. Just they need more activity space," she said.

Fomin said he believes the PC government should have carried out the previous government's commitment.

"We are pretty upset and I would say disillusioned with the promises being made," Fomin said.

Officials with P.E.I.'s Department of Education said $20 million will be used to improve conditions at several aging Island schools such as Eliot River Elementary, Montague Consolidated and cole-sur-Mer.

"We had many many schools who needed some major capital repairs. So, we decided in this budget, we're going to try to address the capital repairs as best we can across the province. And these are things like roofs, and boilers, you know, some key things," said Education Minister Brad Trivers.

Trivers said the addition is being considered for the future based on enrolment and mobile classrooms will be set up to alleviate any space issues.

"We feel the two mobile classrooms will be able to go a ways to addressing the problem in the short-term," Trivers said.

Temporary solution?

Fomin said mobile classroomsareonly a short-term fix.

"I think once they introduce this temporary solution they kind of forget about it and it stays like that," he said.

Barrett said she doesn't believe mobile classrooms will help West Royalty with capacity issues.

"Seems like a step back," she said.

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