The increase is significantly larger than originally projected, but the administration of the South East Cornerstone School Division feels the situation is being handled smoothly. The opening day enrolment figures in the public school division that serves all of southeast Saskatchewan came to 8,023 students. This compares favourably with the 7,888 students who were officially registered in the school division on the last day of September, 2009. An increase of 135 students across the division's 38 school facilities is healthy, and about 50 more than what was predicted, said Lionel Diederichs, the division's vice-president of finance and administration.The major influx of bodies can be found in the division's two major high schools, Estevan Comprehensive School and Weyburn Comprehensive School. ECS for instance, has realized an increase of 50 over last year's opening enrolment of 831. This is a larger increase than what was projected, said Diederichs. With 881 students now found within ECS, there will be some shuffling of staff members to accommodate the new reality. Although official enrolment numbers aren't recorded until September 17 this year, traditionally speaking, the opening day enrolment figures don't vary too drastically from those that are marked down officially a few weeks later. The increase in Estevan's elementary schools is much less dramatic, showing an overall hike of eight from the 2009 numbers. The Estevan school with the biggest increase in registration is Spruce Ridge where the enrolment jumped to 425 from 411, a boost of 14. Hillcrest School showed the next highest increase with 11 students. The enrolment there is now 171. At Westview and Pleasantdale Schools, the trend was in reverse with Westview reporting a drop of 13 students, going to 186 this year from 199 last year. A new pre-kindergarten program was launched in Westview last year by the Cornerstone division and the young students enrolled in that program were included in the overall numbers again this year. Pleasantdale School noted a slight decrease in students, moving to 219 from 223.In the immediate surrounding area, the increases were modest, but at the same time significant with the exception of one troubling report that indicated a dramatic decrease in student population at Oungre's Lyndale School where there are now only 17 students enrolled in the school's kindergarten to Grade 9 program compared with 32 in 2009. "This is designated as a school of necessity, meaning that the Ministry of Education won't allow it to be closed due to its geographic location," said Diederichs. Under normal circumstances, the Oungre school would be placed under review by the division's board of trustees who would study all facets of its operations before placing it on a potential closure list. Lyndale had been placed under review three years ago, prior to the ministry's designation, and a full K to Grade 12 program was ultimately reduced to the K to Grade 9 scenario. "There are limitations as to what can be done," said Diederichs. Another school that had been under scrutiny in the past, Macoun School, might be out of the review woods however, since its student population increased this year by eight, to 44 from 36 the previous year for a K to Grade 6 program. Lampman School, with a kindergarten to Grade 12 setup, has seen a slight decrease going to 211 from 217 while Midale's Central School, another kindergarten to Grade 12 facility moved to 173, an increase of two and Weldon School, with a kindergarten to Grade 8 configuration, is up by one student, now sitting with 154 pupils in their classrooms. "The two comprehensive schools showed healthy increases, the others are stable or a bit down although we have seen strong growth in a few other areas. We see continued growth in schools in Carlyle, Alameda and Moosomin for instance," said Diederichs, who went on to say that, "our projections showed an increase of about 100, but we could have about as much as a 150 student increase so we're now checking with the Comps, to see how it plays out there with teacher numbers and staff requirements."
