School District 23 is one of the fastest growing in all of BC.
It puts additional pressure to accommodate those students, who in many cases, are placed in portables:
"We have had to buy five more portables and they are not funded by the government. The money has to be found in our operating budget. We bought five new ones. We moved five this year. It brings us up to a total of 108 portables in this school district".
Central Okanagan Board of Education chairwoman Moyra Baxter says the District has the most portables - per-capita - in the entire province, exceeding even Surrey, who uses over 400 make-shift classrooms to accommodate exceedingly high student numbers.
Baxter is also confident a deal can be reached between teachers and the province before the school bell rings on Tuesday.
"I think we have to focus that we are very optimistic that their will not be a disruption to school opening. I am sure they are bargaining in good faith so we really are counting on the fact that a contract will be agreed upon", Baxter added.
The last time the teachers hit the pick lines was in 2014 under the Christy Clark government, which was the longest in BC history.