In a time when many school districts in British Columbia are facing the possibility of closing one or more schools in their area, parents and students in the schools of School District 10 can breathe a sigh of relief.
Though many districts have faced issues with lower enrollment levels, SD 10 is not among them.
“The hard school closure conversations that are going across the province currently are the ones we had decades ago,” said Terry Taylor, superintendent of SD 10. “We closed a school in Fauquier 20 years ago due to declining enrollment, and there was a school in Edgewood that was newer and had better facilities, so the Fauquier students were transitioned to the Edgewood school. We closed a school about 17 years ago, Glenbank Elementary. That had been a K-3, and we merged it with Nakusp Elementary School.”
Levels in the district have remained fairly stable over the last few years.
Recent projections are showing almost the same number of students registered for September as there were when school let out in June.
As of this year, there are 448 students registered in the district.
There are currently 19 students enrolled at Edgewood, with some possibility for another two or three students.
At Lucerne, the current enrollment is 80, while Nakusp Elementary School is almost identical to last year at 166, and Nakusp Secondary School is down a little bit at 144. There are also 39 students in the distributed learning school.
Numbers for those in early learning programs like Strong Start are also up, meaning more students will be entering kindergarten when their time comes.
Some districts in the province have been dealing with issues in regard to students being waitlisted. That’s not the case in SD 10.
“Anybody who comes, we’re eager to have them,” Taylor concluded.