Vancouver School Board trustees will vote Monday on a plan to close the adult education centre at Lord Roberts Elementary to free up more space for children.

All of the schools in the downtown peninsula are full, including Elsie Roy and Lord Roberts Annex — both of which could not take all of the kindergarten students who registered for the coming year. Children who did not get a space will go to the main Lord Roberts school, which is now also full.

Space in downtown schools is a growing concern as more families decide to raise their children in condos. School board staff recommended closing the adult education centre to free up more space, and that was endorsed by a school board committee this week.

“We knew (the kindergarten demand in these schools) was increasing, but it’s increasing at even a higher rate than we anticipated,” said Vancouver School Board chair Patti Bacchus.

“In one sense, it’s good news because lots of young families are deciding to live downtown and have their kids go to school downtown, but it does put pressure on these schools.”

If the move is approved by the board, the Adult Education Centre will be consolidated into the four other adult education centres in the city: the Main Street Education Centre, recently relocated to Gladstone Secondary; the Hastings Education Centre; the South Hill Education Centre; and the Downtown East Side Education Centre. The closest facility to the Adult Education Centre is the Downtown East Side Education Centre, at 101 Powell St., which is 20 minutes away by public transit.

“We’ve seen quite a decrease in enrolment for adult ed because the government no longer funds graduated adults for a number of programs and courses,” Bacchus said. “Our staff feels that if the adult students choose to go to other sites, we could absorb them.”

A new elementary school at International Village has been approved and is expected to open as soon as September 2015.

In the meantime, the school district is considering opening a start-up school this fall at Admiral Seymour Elementary, which is farther east and has an empty building. The building is not ideal for the Adult Education Centre because it is not close to public transit, Bacchus said.

If the International Village school is not ready for September 2015, students could start the year at Admiral Seymour then move into the new school as soon as it is ready, even mid-year.

“If those kids were all going to different schools, it would be very disruptive,” Bacchus said.

A similar model is being used for Norma Rose Point Elementary, which was established on the Queen Elizabeth Elementary grounds several years before the University of B.C.-area school is built.

Students in kindergarten, Grade 1 or Grade 2 in September — and who live in the proposed International Village catchment area or who are on the Elsie Roy waiting list — would be eligible to attend the new start-up school.

An elementary school in Coal Harbour has been part of the district’s capital plan since 1999, and another in Olympic Village has been part of the capital plan since 2006. Neither has been approved by the provincial government.

A decision on whether to create a start-up school at Admiral Seymour will not be made until later this year.

Sun Education Reporter

tsherlock@vancouversun.com