School District 57 (SD57) is very pleased with the first two weeks of the 2018-19 calendar year.
Students across the City and the region returned to classes last Wednesday (September 5th).
While no official numbers won’t be released until the end of the month, SD57 Superintendent Marilyn Marquis-Forster believes there is noticeable growth in students.
“Our preliminary enrolments in the schools are at least as strong as last year, if not, stronger. We’re likely experiencing some increase in student population across greater Prince George.”
She says adding two portables to the re-opened Springwood Elementary has helped mitigate the increasing population for the Hart region.
“We knew that was going to happen for the area. The Hart is growing in population, and the opening of Springwood allowed some room for new students at Heather Park as well.”
Marquis-Forster also says successful, fun school years at Duchess Park Secondary are being reported by its more than 1,100 students, despite being at over-capacity.
When asked about teacher shortages, the SD57 Superintendent was quick to say they’re not experiencing anything significant.
In fact, she claims the number of teachers, TTOC’s and Education Assistants has increased for 2018-19, thanks to the restored language in the new collective agreement with the BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF).
“We are in continued talks with our teachers’ union, and our principals and vice-principals, around how we ensure that we have enough supply of teachers to cover certain needs.”
She says only 10 positions are needing to be filled soon, including one French teacher and one Shop teacher.
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