Student overflow spills into even more portables as enrolment surges in southeast N.B.

Surging school enrolment driven by record-setting population growth will see an increasing number of students in southeast New Brunswick heading to class in trailers.

Two school districts serving the Moncton region say enrolment has increased by about 1,800 students from last September, filling up even new schools faster than planned.

The growthhas led to school districts reconfiguring grades and catchment boundaries, using staff rooms and other spaces as classrooms and asking the province to build new schools.

Anglophone East School District expects 18,993 students this week, up almost 1,000 from a year ago. It projects to have more than 22,000 in three to four years.

WATCH | Enrolment surge continues in southeast schools

Enrolment surge continues in southeastern N.B. schools

1 year ago

Duration 1:49

Anglophone and francophone school districts say they're expecting1,800 more students in classes this fall compared to last year.

Randolph MacLean, superintendent of Anglophone East, said in an interview the district has made various changes to address the growth.

Seventeennew portable classrooms were being set up last week to add space at full schools in addition to the 65 it already had.

He saidthe district will need nine new schools and is awaiting word from the province.However, he struck an upbeat tone.

"Will there be challenges? No, there willbe opportunities and we'll continue to get creative,"MacLeansaid.

In Francophone South, officials expect 16,924 students, up 819 from last fall.

"So that's quite a lot for us,"Monique Boudreau, the francophone district's superintendent, said.

It's the second year with significantgrowth and it's above the normal level of about 300 new students per year.

That district is much larger and includes the Moncton, Miramichi, Fredericton,Woodstock, Saint John and St. Stephen regions.Boudreausaid they're seeing the most growth in the Moncton area.

It's a region where for years the province has opened new schools that are almost immediately full and require portable classrooms.

Despite the recurring history, theDepartment of Education and Early Childhood Development said in statement Friday the challenge fordetermining the size of new schools in the region"is the level of unforeseen enrolment growth and the timelines involved between when school designs are set and construction is completed."

CBC requested an interview with Education Minister Bill Hogan for this story starting last Wednesday, but no interview was provided. No reason was given for why Hogan wasn't available.

Spokesperson Diana Chvezsaid the department is aware of the substantial increase in enrolment forthe upcoming school year and officials are discussing it with school districts.

cole Claudette-Bradshaw, a new francophoneelementaryschool with a capacity of 630 students, is opening this fall in Moncton.

Boudreau said it will take some of the pressure off other full schools like cole Le Sommet. Some of that school's portables are being removed this school year.

However, Boudreau said growing enrolment means the new school will now be full faster than expected.

"We thought it would be OK for a couple of years," Boudreau said. "But as the way it's going now, we're not sure. Maybe we'll be OK for a couple of years, but they will have to look closely at that situation."

Work was continuing to get portables ready at several anglophone schools last week.

Moncton High School, a large anglophone school opened in 2015, will have 16 portable classrooms this year.

Shediac Cape School will have 10 portables. MacLean said enrolment at that school has grown by about 200in recent years. He saidabout 500 students are enrolled this fall.

The province has approved a replacement school, but site selection is still underway and MacLean said its doors likely won't be open for four more years.

The growth has also created a need for more staff.

MacLeansaid last weekthe district had fewer than 10 positions to fill.

"We will have an adult, a teacher, in every classroom next week because we're closing that gap rapidly,"MacLeansaid.

Boudreau said Francophone South had filled 24 or 25 vacant teaching positions as of Friday.

However, both said recruitment is still underway for various roles.

Both districts say the growth can largely be attributed to children of newcomers to Canada.

"It's fun to see those immigrants, lots of immigrants coming in, but it is challenging, though, to try to prepare and be ready forthe start of the school year when we have overflows in schools," Boudreau said.

"So our majority of enrolment new growth is new Canadians, but at the same time, we have a sizeable- one third - of our population of Canadians that are relocating,"MacLeansaid.

New Brunswick has seen record-setting population growth.

The province had an estimated831,618 people as of April 1, Statistics Canada reported. That's up from802,862 a year earlier.

Sbastien Lavoie, an analyst at the Centre for Demography atStatistics Canada, said in a July interview that the province is on track to pass one million people within a decade if current trends continue.

"It'skind of, in a way, a little incredible over the last two years that almost every single quarter showed more growth in one quarter than what was typically seen in awhole year 10 years ago,"Lavoiesaid.

Much of the current increase has been driven bypermanent immigrants and non-permanent immigrants, which include those with a study or work permit.

About a third of the growth, however, is from people moving to New Brunswick from other parts of Canada.