School board ponders enrolment declines

Falling school enrolment has caused P.E.I.'s Eastern School District to put construction planning on hold, which is bad news for parents hoping for a junior high school in Stratford.

'Our Grade1 to3 cohort across the district is, I think, 22 per cent smaller than it was just five years ago.' —Sandy MacDonald, district superintendent

While enrolment is generally down — 10 per cent overall from 2001 to 2006 — the picture varies, particularly in Charlottetown, where some schools have grown substantially and others have enrolments falling.

Particularly worrisome is a drop in enrolments in the younger grades.

"The predicted declines have come quicker and broader than we had expected," said district superintendent Sandy MacDonald.

"We have 25 per cent fewer students in Grade 3 today than we did just five years ago. And our Grade 1 to3 cohort across the district is, I think, 22 per cent smaller than it was just five years ago. And this has affected almost all our schools both directly and indirectly."

The district has asked the Department of Education to join in a study to analyze the impact of declining enrolments. In the meantime, there will be no new capital projects approved for the district.

Busing will continue

Parents in Stratford have been lobbying for a junior high school. Currently about 350 students are being bused across the river to schools in Charlottetown.

Enrolment at Glen Stewart, the town's elementary school, has been roughly static at about 640, but MacDonald believes it is too difficult to read the overall numbers right now.

"I'm sure they'll be disappointed and perhaps rightly so," said MacDonald of Stratford's parents.

"But our fear as a board is that we have 13,700 students spread across the system, that if we make a decision in one area it affects almost all the areas. So to make any type of decision at this point in time we need to have a better understanding of how it's going to affect all the schools."

Althoughnumbers are mixed in Charlottetown, theenrolment outside the capital is either static or declining. Some rural schools have enrolment declines of more than 40 per cent. Dundas Elementary and Glen Stewart are the only elementary schools outside Charlottetownwithout declines.

MacDonald says it will likely take some time to complete a thorough review, whichwill look at transportation, zoning and programs. He says parents will continue to be informed as the process continues.