Vancouver must manage its school capacity a lot better than the suburbs... According to the government of BC website,
enrollment at all of the downtown schools are at the highest level since at least 2006:
Lord Roberts Elementary - 645 students (up from 486 in 2006 and a low of 406 in 2009)
Elsie Roy Elementary - 432 students (up from 331 in 2006 and a low of 322 in 2007)
Crosstown Elementary - 485 students (up from 242 when the school opened in 2017, and up from 16 students in 2016 when it was "International Village Elementary"? Didn't know that was a thing, but the government website lists it as opening in 2014 with 16 students?)
King George Secondary - 636 students (up from 486 in 2006, and a low of 444 in 2014)
Having grown up in Richmond in the 90s, I know all about portables. My high school had 53 portables at its peak, was so insane. So I am surprised that with the growth in enrolment at these downtown schools, none have needed portables? This suggests that despite enrolment growth, the actual capacity of each school is still higher than the number of students? That would be surprising to me, but of course it's possible, I don't have an historic knowledge of VSB schools. So either all of these schools were massively under capacity in 2006, or they have somehow squeezed a huge increase into existing spaces. I think Elsie Roy had a modest expansion (ie. 2 classes) but it wasn't even noticeable to anyone physically, I walk the seawall often and couldn't tell you which part is the "expansion"). But I don't think any of the other schools have had expansions at all, yet have accommodated significant increase without needing portables, leading me to believe the actual capacity is higher than even current enrollement? Either that, or the VSB is extremely strict with capacity, and is forcing kids to schools outside of downtown? I thought the rule was that in-catchment students were guaranteed a spot in their catchment school, and only cross-boundary students were subject to rejection due to overcrowding? Ie. they would be allowed to cross boundary, space permitting, but if the school was at capacity, VSB wouldn't bring in portables to accommodate cross boundary kids. Which makes total sense. I know in general, Vancouver schools are far less overcrowded than schools in the suburbs (the elementary school beside my house is Simon Fraser, and with four portables, it probably has more than other VSB elementary school). I moved to the area at the very end of 2014, and the school had one portable then. Since then, they're added 3 portables, which is a lot by VSB standards. So it just makes me wonder how the downtown schools could see such high growth and yet be able to accommodate in their existing buildings. If they are turning away neighbourhood kids due to capacity limits, that is wrong; if the local catchment population exceeds capacity, they should bring in portables and not block local kids from attending (especially when it comes to downtown schools, the alternatives are usually a long distance away). If the VSB is somehow finding a way to squeeze in more capacity without portables or restricting enrollment, then good for them, that's not an east feat. So the Coal Harbour school seems needed already, thankfully, or else it would be embarrassing to build a new school that isn't even needed. Here is the most comprehensive information on VSB schools, capacity, plans, etc...
https://media.vsb.bc.ca/docs/16a267a...20Approved.pdf
I think King George secondary will be expanded and rebuilt in the near future, and it looks like Lord Roberts annex will too, according to the VSB document I linked above. But compared to districts like Surrey, VSB is very blessed with having enrolment not exceed capacity for the most part. Some schools in Surrey are insane, like Edgewood Elementary which opened brand new in fall 2021. Only two years later, they have 15 portables. That's insane for a brand new elementary school, I thought that kind of growth ended in the 90s lol... Surrey neighbourhoods have an insane amount of kids compared to other cities in the lower mainland, certain areas even more pronounced (ie. South Surrey, Clayton, and some random schools in developed neighbourhoods). It would certainly look weird for Elsie Roy or Crosstown to have a portable(s) in the parking lot or field, very suburban
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