WATCH ABOVE: The hallways at Heritage Regional High School in Saint-Hubert are a little busier than usual with enrolment at its highest in recent years. As Global’s Kelly Greig reports, staff are having a hard time keeping up.
SAINT-HUBERT – Back to school was a little different at Heritage Regional High School this year.
With fewer administrators and a surprising jump in enrolment, Wednesday was an exercise in patience for students and staff.
“This first day of school was very different for us. Everyone knows there were budget cuts in all the schools in response to the austerity plans, so we’re working with less support staff than we normally do,” said Principal Kim Barnes.
“We would normally do a pre-entry so the students have all their books and things ahead of time but we weren’t able to do that.”
Since June, the school has received 130 new sign-ups.
Heritage is already the biggest English high school in Quebec, and now it seems they’re going to have to make even more room.
READ MORE: Parents, teachers protest provincial cuts to public education
The school has already added two new groups to secondaries one and two to accommodate all the new students.
Parents received an email from the school explaining the delays.
Barnes said administrators have been working around the clock to make sure that everything runs smoothly – but the numbers came as a surprise.
“They staff us on a certain number they project from April of last year. They projected us around 1,516,” explained Barnes.
“Right now we’re sitting at 1,648 and a lot have come in at the last minute. So, it’s required us to add groups in a lot of grade levels.”
This influx of students comes at a time when budgets are shrinking.
On Tuesday, protests took place across the province against cuts to education – Riverside School Board is no exception.
READ MORE: Willingdon School in NDG protests Quebec austerity cuts
“We’re starting the fourth or fifth year of major cuts at school boards and it has an impact,” said Riverside’s Director General Sylvain Racette.
“We can’t just cut in administration, it’s just too major. We’re already to the bone and we’re trying to reduce the impact in the classroom. So, on the administrative side, the resources are getting scarce.”
Despite fewer resources, staff at the school are excited to see the enrolment numbers rise for the first time in years – even if they don’t have a solid explanation.
“Why? We have so many reasons,” laughed Racette.
“There’s construction on the new bridge, which attracts new workers, we know Heritage is developing new programs – that’s a big attraction. There’s a low dropout rate and parents are looking at that.”
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The hallways at Heritage are definitely a little busier, but it’s a change administrators hope will continue.
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