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KV facilities review

Already-crowded schools in Kennebecasis Valley are going to get even more cramped, according to what consultant Linda White calls "conservative projections" of population growth in the area.

She presented growth projections for 10 KV schools at the April 9 meeting of the District 6 Education Council.

Earlier this year, DEC decided to add portable classrooms to Rothesay High School. White said that school is especially overcrowded with classroom space serving multiple functions.

"Several teachers there work out of carts. They have no homeroom," she said.

KV schools are facing a double whammy of a development boom in the Saint John area and a provincial initiative to reduce classroom size.

Another issue is that space needs for special needs services required of 21st-century schools weren't considered for schools built prior to the 1980s, she said.

DEC meets MLAs June 9

Finding a date when the MLAs in School District 6 could meet with them this spring proved to be an impossible task for the District Education Council.

At the April 9 DEC meeting, Superintendent Zoë Watson said the district had initially found June 9 worked for all four MLAs.

District 6 extends from Sussex Corner to the Kennebecasis Valley and is represented by Kings East MLA Bruce Northrup, Hampton-Belleisle MLA Bev Harrison, Quispamsis MLA Mary Schryer and Rothesay MLA Margaret-Ann Blaney.

Since then, the district office learned Blaney was no longer available for June 9. Watson suggested the option of a separate DEC meeting with her.

"She should be kept in the loop with the facilities issue and overcrowding," she said.

Transition Day May 30

District 6 students entering school in Kindergarten or moving up to a different school in Grade 6 and Grade 9 this September will have a preview of the new environment with their classmates this month.

The district is having a Transition Day for those students May 30, said superintendent Zoë Watson. The transitioning students will spend the day visiting the new school, getting oriented, meeting staff and learning about new routines and expectations.

"Students currently in those grades will be asked to stay home" that day, said Watson.

The district has offered a transition day for students entering Kindergarten for years and last year began the program for students entering middle school at Grade 6.

This September will be the first year the district will hold an orientation day for students entering high school at Grade 9.