Portables gobbling up space at nearly new Sir Arthur Currie school

It would be hard to find a more upbeat, optimistic employee of the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) than Sue Bruyns, but as the principal of Sir Arthur Currie Public School, she kind of has to be. 

In the spring of 2017, the elementary school on Burloak Drive in London, Ont.'s fast-growing northwest corner was expecting about 350 students when it opened as a new school that September. 

By Labour Day, the school designed for 533 pupils had about 400, many of them kids with parents who'd bought new houses in the subdivisions popping up in the area. 

Now, just 4½ years after it opened, Sir Arthur Currie has more than 950 students, almost double its intended capacity. By next year, the school could be operating at 200 per cent capacity. 

There are currently 12 portables at the school, a number that is expected to jump to 17 modular classroom spaces next year.

Bruyns remains upbeat, despite managing her surging school population in a year already complicated by at-home learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"It terms of creating a community feel, it means we need to work a little bit harder to do that when we anticipate we'll have half of our population outside in portables," she said. "We have a fabulous staff. It just means we have to shift some of our work here."

The situation at Sir Arthur Currie was raised at London city council's meeting this week. 

According to a letter sent to Mayor Ed Holder by TVDSB associate director Jeff Pratt, the province has approved funding to build a new school with capacity for 803 students in that section of the city, but the school board is unable to find land to build it.

A developer has offered to set aside space as part of plans to build a subdivision at the corner of Sunningdale Road West and Hyde Park Road. That corner is almost entirely farm fields now.

City staff have called a development at that corner "premature" because the area lacks services for a subdivision. Also needed, staff say, is an overall development plan for the area, known as a secondary plan. 

Coun. Stephen Turner said the situation is leading to the school board being "leveraged" in the discussion. 

Andrew Clark is a parent of two students at Sir Arthur Currie, which he said is delivering top-notch learning despite all the challenges.

He'd like to see consideration for schools given a higher priority when it comes to planning. 

"The developers and the city need to stop treating schools as second-class citizens," he said. "We need to stop throwing the schools at the edge of the growth boundaries and locate schools where it makes sense to build community." 

Clark, who also co-chairs the Sir Arthur Currie school council, said one of the biggest challenges at the school is the amount of outdoor play space taken up by portables. The school field is small and often ice-covered or mucky for much of the school year, he said.  

"Adding more portables is going to take up the majority of the tarmac. It's going to be portables everywhere unless they go into the parking lot." 

Rooms inside the school originally intended as communal work spaces and activity rooms are instead being used as classrooms, said Clark. 

"Once it's time to use that extra space ... there's no room for the kids."

Rather than make a decision on official plan amendments requested by the developer, city councillors asked staff to revisit the situation, and work with the school board and developer to find solutions. 

Regardless of what they decide, any development at that corner — and any school that goes with it — is likely years away because the site has no direct sewer or water service. 

"There are obviously issues with the number of people," said Clark.