Article content continued

Both Carr and Gordon are new to the lottery list this year, while Charles Dickens and Norma Rose Point had lotteries last year, but were able to accommodate all the students who want to enrol for this September. In all, there are 18 “full schools,” where enrolment is actively monitored by the district. Most of those schools had space for all of the kindergarten students who registered.

Nelson could not give exact numbers of students who are waitlisted for kindergarten spaces, but said there is a good chance many of them will eventually get a spot, once cross-boundary applications are approved and other changes take place. He said every child has been offered an alternative, except in some cases where there are a very large number of students who need to find spaces. In those cases, each student will be handled individually, with a space found by April 12, he said.

“We have really tried very hard to wait until we have as much information as possible,” Nelson said. “Sometimes not knowing is the worst thing.”

Many schools will see classrooms added for next year, due to the overall class size decreases, Nelson said. That will be done by adding portables, renovating existing space and using classrooms that were previously used for other purposes, Nelson said.

The province has said the additional classroom and specialty teachers that are required to implement the restored rules will cost about $330 million a year. In addition, the province has allocated $30 million for extra costs, such as portables or extra janitorial time to clean the added classrooms. Vancouver’s share of that money is $54.2 million for teachers and $3.3 million for the other costs.

All students who are enrolled in a school will be able to continue in their school, despite the smaller class sizes, Nelson said.

The new Crosstown elementary school downtown will open next fall with three kindergarten classes, Nelson said.

tsherlock@postmedia.com

CLICK HERE to report a typo.

Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com.