Portable classrooms may be needed for growing Gander elementary school

Tenders will be assessed next month for a new elementary school in Gander, but there may not be enough classrooms for students next fall when all-day kindergarten starts.

Transportation and Works Minister David Brazil said his department was a few weeks behind putting tenders to market for the new Grade 4-6 school but it was necessary to ensure there are no construction delays.

"Gander is one of the communities that we identified that has a growth population for students," Brazil said. "We want to ensure the infrastructure is there to be able to meet those needs."

Brazil said the 25-classroom school is still on track to be completed by 2017. Budget 2014 earmarked $5.3-million for planning and to start construction on the school.

He said in the meantime, there may be a shortage of classrooms at Gander Academy in 2016.

Brazil said if that's the case, kindergarten students could be put in temporary classrooms.

"What we do have is the ability to put in some of the portable classrooms, which are state of the art. These are brand new built. They have all the amenities of a classroom that would service that," he said.

"Not sure that we need that at this point, we may have the capacity depending on how many kids are going to register for kindergarten."

Brazil said better numbers on how many kids are entering kindergarten for the 2016-17 school year will be available next month.