Yellowknife (Feb 17/06) - A delegation of parents from all three Catholic schools gave trustees a first-hand account of how crowded the three Yellowknife Catholic schools are.

St. Patrick high school parents Peter Bengts said one of his two daughters prefers to sit in the hallway to study because the library is always full of students and is too loud.

"I spoke to principal Johnnie Bowden and he said there are no free classrooms for guest speakers or meetings," said Bengts.

Karla Cairns said Ecole St. Joseph school is too small for its 600 students. "We chose the Catholic board for the quality of education knowing there were capacity issues. But there is no room allotted for core French classes and the gym capacity is only 300."

At Weledeh school, parent Loretta Kaminski said she's afraid students will suffer because there's no room to grow.

"There is no space for special needs to students to learn one-on-one," she said. "Eight classroom assistants share one tiny office. There is no room to create a French Immersion program in kindergarten or Grade 1."