Some Winnipeg schools face overcrowding

As students return to class this week, dozens of schools in Winnipeg are bursting at the seams.

Many of the city's overcrowded schools are in the Seven Oaks School Division, including Leila North Community School, which was built for 350 students but is expected to have more than 600 this academic year.

Leila North has 10 portable classrooms — more than any other in the school division — and its computer laboratory was recently torn down to make extra room.

"You definitely feel the squeeze walking through the hallways," Michelle Dombek, a teacher at the school, told CBC News.

"It feels like an obstacle course walking from my portable to even just, you know, use the restroom," she added with a laugh.

Several other schools in the Seven Oaks School Division are also over capacity, including Riverbend School, which was meant for about 400 students but is expecting more than 550.

A population boom in north Winnipeg means schools in the area are thriving, said Leila North principal Scott Shier.

"The area that we live in, it continually grows," Shier said.

"That's a good problem to have, actually, as a school, but we just have to figure out ways to get on with it."

The province is building a new school in the nearby Amber Trails area, but it is not expected to open until 2014.