There were 2,956 students at this time a year ago and Secretary-Treasurer Bettina Ketcham confirms that the preliminary numbers for this year are higher than that…
“We had a budget projection for enrollment of 2,965 students and as of September 9th we have slightly exceeded that target at 2,969.”
Ketcham cautions however, that those numbers can still change a little between now and the end of the month when the final numbers are sent into the Ministry of Education.
Looking into the future, Ketcham says the district feels that the numbers have now leveled off…
“I do, the district has anticipated this, we knew that we were at a stage where we were leveling off with enrollment declines, and we anticipate for the next few years to be sitting around the three thousand FTE (full time equivalent) mark, you know unbeknownst to any sort of economic conditions or factors.”
Ketcham says they have a healthy number of kindergarten students this year, and she says some people moving into the community has also helped to increase their numbers.