River East bursting at the seams; forced to shuffle students

An increase in students and the popularity of French immersion will force the River East Transcona School Division to shuffle some students to different schools next year.

As of the 2025 academic year, students who live north of the Perimeter Highway and are enrolled in the French immersion program at Sun Valley School and John Henderson Middle School will be moved to one of three schools: Bird’s Hill School, Dr. F.W.L. Hamilton School or Robert Andrews Middle School. The schools will introduce French programming to accommodate moving students.

Birds Hill School will become a dual-track kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school and Robert Andrews a dual-track grades 6 to 8 school.

The move doesn’t sit right with parent Curtis Connon. His son, who is in Grade 6, will finish the 2025 year at John Henderson, attend Robert Andrews Middle School for Grade 8, then attend Miles Macdonell Collegiate for high school.

“It just doesn’t seem fair or practical to have the kids move for one year and then make a move all over again,” he said.

“He’ll have to go to a completely new environment and will be segregated from a good part of the community that he’s been with since kindergarten.”

The adjustment is another effort by division staff to make room for an increasing number of learners. The student population has increased by more than 400 students since September 2023 and is expected to increase by another 500 students by the fall. In the 2022-23 academic year, the division added nearly 1,400 students.

It currently has 18,673 students in 42 schools, up from 18,276 budgeted students in September 2023.

Some non-immersion students who currently attend Bird’s Hill School will move to Dr. F.W.L. Hamilton School. The division couldn’t provide an exact number.

The changes are due to an influx of Ukrainian immigrants and other newcomers in Winnipeg and stagnant development outside the city, superintendent Sandra Herbst said.

Connon and other parents are asking for their children to be exempt to ease the transition for students, but board chair Colleen Carswell said time is of the essence.

“The longer we wait for that transition, the longer these schools aren’t safe… A multi-year transition is not something we can do at this time,” Carswell said during an information session Wednesday evening.

Herbst says school boundary lines are not static and must respond to changing enrollment.

In September 2022, elementary-aged learners at Regent Park, Margaret-Underhill and Centrale School were moved to accommodate an influx of pupils.

“We’re dealing with this everywhere… we are a school division that needs a new school now because we have students waiting to fill those seats today,” she said.

In 2023, the Manitoba government, under the Tories, announced it would help the division buy land in Devonshire Park to build a K-8 school through a private-public funding model. The NDP, which is no fan of that funding model, made no commitment to build the school in its first budget, last month.

However, Education Minister Nello Altomare said plans for the new school in Transcona are in the works and criticized the former government for announcing one without any financial backing.

“When we announce schools, we’ll have the finances to support the construction and ensure that we don’t play with the emotions of parents and families,” he said, adding such announcements are expected in the coming months.

In September, the Pembina Trails School Division will send all Grade 9 learners to high schools to accommodate enrollment increases fuelled by immigration and new developments in Waverley West, along Pembina Highway and in the Refinery District.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca