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The leaders of Fort McMurray’s public and Catholic schools are confident the upcoming school year will be academically successful for their students. However, there is no question that schools are facing problems.

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The unions representing support staff and educational assistants in both divisions are expected to vote on a strike as early as Sept. 7 after bargaining talks collapsed last month. Interviews with the superintendents were done before the unions announced the possible strike vote, but both school divisions have promised to remain open even during a strike.

The superintendents for both divisions, however, say the next academic year will have larger classes, fewer staff, growing enrolment and gripes towards the Alberta government’s funding formula for schools.

The Fort McMurray Catholic School Division (FMCSD) starts the school year with depleted financial reserves after using this money to bridge funding gaps, which hovered around $5 million annually for the last five years.

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Natasha MacArthur-Poole, FMCSD’s superintendent, said the division is fully staffed, but those reserves were used to support 30.5 full-time teaching positions. Job losses were absorbed through attrition.

The Fort McMurray Public School Division (FMPSD) avoided these cuts. However, Superintendent Annalee Nutter said FMPSD’s reserves will run out next year or the year afterwards unless there are changes to the funding model.

This comes as both divisions struggle to accommodate growing class sizes. Nutter said last year there were some junior high classes with 40 students because there were few teachers available. That’s an extreme example and not normal across FMPSD, she said, but it’s still a worrying situation.

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Both FMCSD and FMPSD have requested funding for portables. FMPSD is considering buying their own portables with their capital reserves. Other options include turning flex spaces, such as areas used for lunch, and making a new classroom by putting up temporary walls.

“That’s how desperate we are right now,” said Nutter.

“So class sizes, it will be crowded and we will have to make some makeshift classrooms until we can get what we need.”

MacArthur-Poole says despite layoffs in the oilsands and an increasing reliance on commuter workers, many people who came to Fort McMurray as young people are starting families. Both MacArthur-Poole and Nutter also say immigration has played a large role in school growth.

Many new students are children of temporary foreign workers, permanent residents and people who came to Canada under the Refugee Assistance Program. A source that surprised both divisions are parents who came to Canada as international students at Keyano College.

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Dr. Clarke and Our Lady of the River schools in downtown Fort McMurray are the fastest growing elementary schools for both divisions. Many of the new students are from the Philippines, but an increasingly large number of new students are coming from Ethiopia, Eritrea and, at Dr. Clarke School, Somalia.

Some students had never attended school in their old countries. Others speak no English. There have also been cases where students are only diagnosed with intellectual disabilities once they arrive in Canada.

This has added new challenges to both divisions as they scramble to find specialists that can help struggling students. This includes children with mental and emotional health issues and those new to Canada.

“I don’t feel like Fort McMurray is busier but every year, both the public board and the Catholic board are seeing this increase in our class sizes and with the enrollment we have,” said MacArthur-Poole.

“I don’t think Fort McMurray is in a boom anymore, but we definitely have more students.”

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