To alleviate growing overcrowding, the Burnaby School District, SD41, has declared that several of its high schools will start using staggered schedules for the 2025-2026 school year. The move aims to solve the growing student population of the district and will affect four out of eight high schools in Burnaby, namely Alpha Secondary, Burnaby Central Secondary, Burnaby Mountain Secondary, and Moscrop Secondary.

In extending school hours and introducing a five-block schedule, the district also hopes to add about 10 percent of capacity because the district is dealing with its enrollment growth. According to Superintendent Karim Hachlaf, the decision was an effective challenge given that it had to accept the current and future body student’s requirements. “We have a responsibility to find an immediate way to accommodate both the students we have now, and the new ones expected next year,” Hachlaf said in a statement.

The staggered schedule is part of a wave of similar moves elsewhere in the Lower Mainland. Surrey adopted similar staggered schedules at several high schools this spring in a push against overcrowding, a strategy increasingly being used in the region as school populations grow faster than new schools can be built.

Although some parents are expressing frustration with these measures, many believe this problem would have been largely alleviated if the government had stepped in earlier. However, the Burnaby School District holds that such a measure has become inevitable for the short term at least. The plan by this district excludes Burnaby North Secondary which is not adopting staggered schedules, but instead finds other means of controlling available space while preparing for expansion.

This shift in timing is hoped to not only correct overcrowding in the short term but also to prepare for growth that is expected to continue for the next few years. The Burnaby School District hopes that these changes will help somewhat until more permanent solutions, such as building new schools, are made.