School space a concern for all-day kindergarten plan
Surrey Leader
Laurae McNally, Diane Strandberg and Sheila Reynolds
September 08, 2009

Schools with empty classroom space are more likely to get all-day kindergarten next September, says Education Minister Margaret MacDiarmid….

Some of the challenges in implementing longer school days for five-year-olds include finding qualified teachers and room in schools where space is at a premium.

“It is working with each individual school district and figuring out how many classrooms and what schools (can accommodate the new program),” MacDiarmid said of the planning now underway.

Cramped schools may have to look at getting portables in order to free up some space for the longer kindergarten programs, MacDiarmid said, but she doesn’t expect any problems coming up with 1,000 trained teachers.

Declining enrollment has resulted in a surplus of teachers who could find themselves back in the classroom thanks to all-day kindergarten, MacDiarmid said.

“This is a way to keep our excellent teachers working,” she said.

Surrey already has 88 all-day kindergarten classes, but they’re currently only at inner-city schools and are for aboriginal and English as a Second Language students….

“Clearly, space will be a bit of a problem,” she said. “I expect in some instances, portables will be a reality.”