The figures aren’t complete, but the enrolment decrease predicted for School District 73 appears to have been wrong — in a good way.
Supt. Karl deBruijn said statistics aren’t in yet for continuing-education and online students but, as of this week, there are 1,089 students in kindergarten, an increase of 118 from last year.
In grades 1 to 7, there are 7,012 students, an increase of 124. The secondary grades continue to show a decrease, with 5,481 students, down 406 from last year.
The district had predicted a total enrolment decline of 280 students.
To have the numbers add up to 164 fewer students is good news, deBruijn said.
He sees a brighter future with the increase in the elementary grades, “assuming they stay with us right though secondary.”
The district has been experiencing a downward trend since the mid-1990s. In 1997, enrolment — in terms of full-time equivalency since some students attend part-time — topped off at 17,769.
The numbers continued to drop until the introduction of full-time kindergarten in 2011, when they began to stabilize.
DeBruijn said the lower enrolment at the secondary level continues to be a concern because it also restricts the number of courses that can be offered.
The post School board not unhappy with enrolment figures appeared first on Kamloops This Week.