June 11, 2025
RED FM News Desk
Two New Westminster school board trustees, Danielle Connelly and Kathleen Carlsen, are calling for increased provincial funding to cool down classrooms, especially “dangerous hot” portables. They say students are stuck in overheated and unsafe learning environments.
“Anybody trying to learn is going to have a hard time in such extreme heat. It absolutely affects the education,” Carlsen told CityNews in an interview. Both trustees emphasized they were speaking for themselves, not on behalf of the school board.
In a media statement, Connelly described the portables as “not only overcrowded but also dangerously hot during extreme weather.” Both Connelly and Carlsen attribute this situation to a lack of funding from the B.C. Ministry of Education.
“This situation is a direct result of the provincial government’s ongoing failure to invest in adequate, permanent classroom spaces,” the trustees stated jointly.
They report that because portables are getting so hot, school staff are forced to shuffle students between them and cooler indoor spaces.
Trustees Connelly and Carlsen are urging the provincial government to improve the situation. “This isn’t about politics — it’s about student safety, health, and learning,” Connelly affirmed.
Loading ...
