Province denies Seine River School Division request for portables

The Manitoba government has denied Seine River School Division’s request for 10 new portables, as the division begins classes in two renovated school libraries this month to meet capacity needs.

The division’s superintendent Colin Campbell told trustees at a Tuesday night meeting the province said there’s no portables available across Manitoba. Campbell said portables could be available early 2026.

Renovations were completed at the Arborgate School in La Broquerie and at the Ste Anne High School, with two classrooms created from each school’s library.

“Obviously, we have other schools that are in need of those. But when we’ve already made renovations in two schools, it’s alarming we don’t have any at this point,” Campbell said during the meeting.

He said that while converting the two libraries does help provide more classrooms, it sacrifices library space and is disruptive for both students wanting to come visit the library and students in class.

Trustee Robert Rivard expressed concern about what options the school will have next year if portables still aren’t available. He said even if more spaces, like music rooms and libraries, are converted to classrooms, it’ll leave schools with no spare spaces for students.

“Then what do we do? Do we just tell them ‘You can’t come to school because we don’t have a classroom,’” Rivard said during the meeting.

Campbell said class sizes are increasing the fastest in La Broquerie and and Ste Anne, with Ste Anne bringing 40 new students this school year. He said class sizes in St Adoplhe and St Norbert are also quickly growing and will soon demand more space.

“They’re on the horizon, and as a school division, we want to be proactive and try to make sure that we have space based on growth,” Campbell said.

Discussions with the province on the new Ste Anne regional high school are expected to begin in October or November, Campbell said. The province announced in its 2025 provincial budget construction would start in 2027, with it opening September 2028.

Chairperson Christine Roskos made a motion that was unanimously carried to meet with the minister of education about the portables and school capacity across the division.

Roskos told reporters after the meeting that even though the new school is in the works for Ste Anne, immediate action is needed to address the division’s needs.

“If we’re not getting portables and nobody is getting portables because there are none, to me, that’s very shortsighted,” she said. “Why are we in this position and waiting so long.”

All of the province’s existing portables are in use and allocated to schools for the current school year, a provincial spokesperson said in an email. The division’s request will continue to be evaluated based on priority when portables come available, they added.

On Sept. 15, Manitoba announced $200 million in spending for school capital projects. Of that, $59 million is dedicated for modular and portable classrooms, gym upgrades and renovations.

Education minister Tracy Schmidt said she sympathizes with the issues the division is facing and that there’s a pressing need for classroom space across Manitoba.

“I think that there is a balance to be struck between investing in resources like portables, which I think we can all agree are not the ideal learning environment for our students,” she said. “So we need to balance the need for those type of resources with a shift towards a strategic, permanent infrastructure plan.”

Schmidt said the province is investing in bulk-building portables and is undergoing a space utilization analysis to determine which schools will get them.