By David F. Rooney
Enrolment in School District 19’s three elementary schools and RSS dropped to 949 students this year from last year’s 1,014 students.
RSS has 389 boys and girls, down from 430 in 2012. Begbie View Elementary has 239, down from 257, Columbia Park Elementary’s school population is 207 strong, up from 202, while Arrow Heights has 114 pupils, down from last year’s 126. In 2011 there were 1,036 students total and in 2010 there were 1,027.
“The decline sometimes gets equated with being ‘a bad thing.'” Superintendent Mike Hooker told the SD 19 Board of Trustees on Tuesday, October 22. “But there are benefits.”
Smaller school populations means class sizes are lower. The average Kindergarten class has 16.7 kids, Grades 1 through 3 classes are composed of 19.8 children, Grades 4 – 7 have 25.1 and Grades 8 to 12 have 22.2 students.
Speaking about RSS enrolment, Hooker said: “If we can maintain class size at (that level) it will continue to be an outstanding school.”
Please click here to read Hooker’s report to the board.
