New schools already need to restrict enrolment

Two brand new Edmonton public schools have already taken measures to prevent future overcrowding.

Michael Strembitsky and Bessie Nichols schools opened on Tuesday. The schools were build to accommodate a surge of growth in south and westEdmonton.

The schools can each hold850 students but are already close to capacity, so the board is limiting enrolment to children who live within their attendance areas.

This is a departure from the board's open boundaries policy, which allows children to attend any public school in the city.

The situation is frustrating because everyone who lives in those areaswants their children to go to those schools, said Lorne Parker from Edmonton Public Schools.

"Unfortunately, we simply can't accommodate everybody and it becomes particularly challenging when parents have to drive by those schools to attend another school," he said.

Some parents, like Tina Ardt, say the limits are only a stop-gap, and that the real solution is building more schools.

"How could you not know that the growth was going to get more and more and you would need this?" she said.

The board is already thinking about adding portable classrooms. Parker says the board has asked the province for more schools but there's no funding right now.