Mike Borgfjord

The superintendent of the Seine River School Division says they are making good progress in meeting the province's directive to reduce the size of Kindergarten to Grade 3 classes. The province wants those class sizes reduced to 20 or less within five years.

Mike Borgfjord says Seine River is well on the way. "We have a lot of classrooms around the 20 mark in K-3. We do have some that are 28 or 27. We don't think we're a mile away from the objective. I think one of our challenges is we have a lot larger middle years classes in Grades 4-8."

Borgfjord says they got some help in achieving the new K-3 target this fall as student growth in the division occurred largely in schools that had extra space for more students. At the same time he notes, "We did add two more portables this past year and there will be some space challenges in a few communities. As we continue to grow, we'll be looking at more of those down the road at a few other schools."

In the meantime, Borgfjord says the division has reset its priorities following a review by the board and administration. He explains the four new priorities are: "To expand evidence-based decisions that support excellent and innovative practices, our second new priority is to continue to develop and strengthen all arts programs - visual, dance, music and drama, the third board priority is to improve community engagement and the fourth board priority is to enhance early childhood education."