By Times Staff
While final numbers won’t be known until the end of September, preliminary estimates from the first week of school suggest Clearwater Secondary School’s enrolment has decreased slightly from last year.
“Currently we are about 191,” said principal Darren Coates. “This is down from last year as our cohort leaving was slightly larger than our cohort coming in and a few families left the community.”
Coates noted that the school’s projected enrolment had been 185.
“I always project a few on the low side as being over our projection is easier than being under the projection,” he said.
Across all of School District No. 73 (Kamloops-Thompson) the preliminary enrollment count this year is 14,137 students, up by 294 when compared to the same time last year.
The District’s projections show there will be 8,621 students in its elementary schools and 5,516 students in its secondary schools. The enrolment numbers are close to what was projected by District staff at the end of last year.
Some schools saw greater than expected enrolment. Dallas Elementary, for example, registered 412 students, which is 32 more than expected. At Valleyview Secondary, administrators registered 957 students. That school is now operating at almost 140 per cent capacity, with eight portables on site.
Other pressure points include Aberdeen, David Thompson and Summit elementary schools. The District will continue to watch and adjust staffing levels and other resources to ensure all students have productive learning environments, and to comply with this year’s revised class size and composition requirements.
“There is no question that space is at a premium in some of our schools,” said Rob Schoen, the District’s assistant superintendent of elementary schools. “In some schools, we will use every available room including the learning resource and music rooms to ensure we have the required number of classrooms.”
Additionally, the District can also consider bussing students from one school to another with more space but staff will do everything possible to keep children in their catchment schools.
Lastly, the District continues the process of hiring teachers teaching on call (TTOC).
There were teachers in all classrooms in the District last week, although in some cases permanent assignments are still being filled.