F.H. Collins’ school council chair is concerned about the high number of students enrolled.
Sandra Henderson is the chair of the F.H. Collins Secondary School council. She worked at the school for 27 years as well, as a teacher and as a vice-principal.
She told the News there are 786 students enrolled, with an additional dozen or so students waiting for registration.
There are also around 90 staff members in the building, Henderson said. She said the school’s capacity was built for 750 people.
Henderson was present for the first day of school on Aug. 27. Henderson said students had packed in the school’s gymnasium for an assembly.
“I thought it was overwhelming,” Henderson told the News.
Henderson said the school’s catchment area includes downtown Whitehorse, Riverdale, Marsh Lake, Golden Horn, Pine Ridge, Cowley Creek, Mary Lake and Mount Sima. The school also accommodates French immersion students from elsewhere in the city.
Henderson said she’s worried the crowding could pose a fire hazard in the school. She said she’s heard similar health and safety concerns about the overcapacity from parents of students, as well.
However, the territorial Department of Education told the News in an email F.H. Collins is safe to attend.
They said the compliance load for F.H. Collins is 1,630 people. This number was calculated by the City of Whitehorse’s building inspection team. Compliance load is the amount of people allowed in the building.
Whitehorse fire chief Travis Whiting told the News a school may be built with a certain number of students in mind, but occupancy is based on fire code and analysis done by a code reviewer.
“We are in communication with F.H. Collins and other schools, and at this point, we haven't flagged anything outside of the fire code,” Whiting said. He said the fire department will be doing inspections at Whitehorse schools throughout the fall.
The school capacity is 744 full-time students, said the department of education. While there are 783 students enrolled for this semester, 28 are taking classes at Wood Street, meaning 755 students are attending classes in the school this semester.
Furthermore, not all students are full-time, meaning the number of students physically present in the building rises and falls throughout the day, said the representative from the department of education.
Ted Hupé is the president of the Yukon Association of Education Professionals. He said concerns around capacity at F.H. Collins are not new.
Hupé said discussions of "hot bunking" — ensuring that at any given time, each classroom is in use — were happening at F.H. Collins as far back as seven years ago.
What’s new this year is that support staff and counsellors are now being told to vacate from smaller rooms to make room for classes, Hupé said.
Henderson also mentioned offices being used for classes.
“Counsellors have had to move offices and free up their area for a class, if the area was big enough for, well, for instance, learning assistance with two or three or four kids,” she said.
Henderson said F.H. Collins had been promised portables from the Department of Education in 2020, but the portables were removed from the budget in January 2021. Now, the territorial government is promising portables for the 2025-26 school year.
“It'll be five years after that first request. I think that says everything,” said Hupé.
Henderson said staff members are feeling overwhelmed.
“There were several staff members there who are also overwhelmed. Quite a number of staff members came up to me and said, 'we have no room',” said Henderson.
Hupé said overcrowding has an insidious effect on staff and students deprived of quiet spaces to do work or take a lunch break.
“When you are constantly competing for space in a building, it's going to add up, and it's usually adds up in the form of stress or frustration,” Hupé said.
Hupé said capacity issues go beyond F.H. Collins.
Whistle Bend Elementary was recently built as other schools were “chocker full” of students, according to Hupé. He said he foresees Whistle Bend may be full within two years.
On Aug. 21, Jordan Owens of Yukon’s cabinet communications said there were around 500 more students this year than was anticipated.
The Department of Education needs to be proactive when it comes to future capacity of Whitehorse schools, said Hupé.
“Projections are, Whitehorse is going to grow,” he said.
“We don't know what the effects will be, but we know overcrowding in any setting affects the inhabitants of that setting.”
Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com
