More than 2000 high school students this year puts SRSS near capacity

As student numbers jump in the Hanover School Division, board trustees are closely monitoring the increasing student population at the Steinbach Regional Secondary School which is nearing capacity. 

There are over 2000 students enrolled in Steinbach’s only high school for the 2023-2024 school year, and the capacity is 2200. 

Superintendent Shelley Amos says there is also a strong staff group. 

“We have close to 200 staff there on a daily basis, it really is its own little population happening in there,” she says. “So that’s going to be a next step for our board and senior admin to take a look at as we come to capacity at that school. What will we need to do next?” 

Board Chair Ron Falk expects there will be approximately 2075 students registered at the SRSS by mid-September. 

“It's the largest school in the province by square footage and by student population,” he notes. “The admin there have a big job to know what's going on and to keep a handle on everything in the programming and keep everybody going in the same direction. It's a big job there.” 

Prior to the addition at the SRSS, there were around 1400 students attending the school. Three months ago, that number reached 1900. 

In spring, the province received a request for more portable classrooms at three Hanover schools including the SRSS. 

But Falk says this school already has a population larger than many Manitoba towns. 

“I don't want to speak for the board as to what we want to do, but when you have a school that's over 2000, I think the general consensus would be that we don't really want it getting a whole lot larger,” he says. “You want people to feel important, students to feel important, you want teachers to feel important and that everybody has a place. And so, this is something the board will be likely talking about in the next couple of months, but we do have to plan for the future, and this is part of the planning.” 

Falk says looking back to when he attended the high school, the student population was around 300. The 2023 graduating class had 409 students. 

Hanover administration has reported this week that enrollment numbers are much higher than projected with Kindergarten and Grade 9 showing the most significant growth in the division.

Steinbach is getting a new K-4 school, sod-turning ceremony took place in July of this year. 

Falk says the Southeast is rapidly growing and the board is excited to meet the challenges that come with having more students to educate. 

“It's always exciting to have growth,” he says. “It doesn't matter if you're a school division or business or family or whatever it is, growth is always great. And certainly, for Hanover, we continue to see growth, and this is a big growth year again for us, over 300 additional students already than we had budgeted for (across the division).” 

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