Living Sky School Division enrolment numbers are in and they are not good.
As of Sept. 30, a total of 5,392 students were enrolled in Kindergarten through Grade 12 throughout the division, down from 5,463 from Sept. 30, 2018.
But the numbers from schools in North Battleford, showing all the schools down in enrolment, had board trustee Garth Link, representing North Battleford, particularly agitated.
“We’re bleeding students badly in North Battleford,” said Link. “There’s a heavy loss of kids in North Battleford and if this continues, it’s probably … I consider it a bad sign.”
He said those working in the system, parents with kids in the system or taxpayers would be concerned.
“Year over year, every school in the city lost kids. Some more than others.”
The numbers for the schools in North Battleford are all reporting declines from a year ago. Enrolment at Bready School was 225 last Sept. 30; this year it is 216. Connaught was 205; this year it is 172. Lawrence School was 182; this year it is 173. McKitrick was 205; now it is 195.
The most noticeable drop was at North Battleford Comprehensive High School, which dropped from 1,086 last school year to 1,026 this year.
Superintendent of Human Resources Jim Shevchuk offered one explanation for the declines: that with the change in administration at NBCHS it offered an opportunity to make some changes, where the division revisited practices and procedures about reporting students.
“We really, really cleaned it up, and really, really tightened it up.”
The numbers now are a better reflection of actual students in the seats, Shevchuk said. That explanation didn’t satisfy Link, who responded it “bothers me that you would come to me and say you didn’t trust the numbers you were giving to us.”
The point Link made was that it wasn’t just one school – the Comp – showing declines; it was every school in the city.
“I’d like an explanation for it. Where are they? And if they’re not there is it simply a birthrate problem in the city, or is it the fact that people are leaving the city, or is someone going to a different school?”
Some explanations were offered by administration officials. One was of families moving out of the city and back onto reserve, which might have been the main factor with the drop at Connaught.
Busing was another factor cited, with a suggestion to look at the one-kilometre walk procedure, which is seen as having a negative impact for some of the enrolment. It was explained that some of the students didn’t qualify for busing because of the one-km rule, and in those cases they might have “walked with their feet” and enrolled elsewhere.
Another suggestion made at the meeting was to monitor birth rates more closely. In any event, officials will be looking into the issue further to figure out what is behind the declines in the city.
