ATHABASCA – Aspen View Public Schools (AVPS) missed its expected enrolment numbers by 11 students despite seeing a healthy student increase in Grassland and Smoky Lake.
“There’s some good news, and some bad news,” said AVPS board chair Candy Nikipelo during the board’s Oct. 10 meeting at Vilna School.
“Hopefully, our schools aren’t at a big loss with some of these numbers. We just want to keep our schools strong and weather this storm, and weather the ups and downs.”
Officially, Aspen View has 2,585 students, 11 less than their projected total of 2,596, and 40 less than during the 2023-24 school year.
Its largest school is Edwin Parr Composite, with 710 students — five more than projected — and the next biggest is H.A. Kostash, which will have 359 students in its halls, 18 more than projected.
The biggest loss for the school division occurred at Thorhild Central School, which was expecting 340 students but wound up with 310. Supt. Constantine Kastrinos said the decrease in students was a mix between families moving away from the area and choosing to home school their children.
Whispering Hills Primary School (WHPS) had 15 less students than expected, starting the year with 304, and the Centre for Alternative Education (CAVE) also had less students, starting the year with 32 instead of the expected 50. Administration did note the CAVE’s enrolment tended to fluctuate year-to-year and could be hard to predict.
Despite the overall decrease, Grassland School saw a healthy jump in numbers, with 21 more students than expected joining the school to bring its total to 75, compared to the 50 it had last year.
Vilna’s enrolment rose by four students, growing to 121 instead of losing two as expected, and the village’s outreach school also had surpassed expectations, rising to 17 students compared to the 10 from the previous year.
“We do have quite the transient population, with kids going back and forth between Ashmont and here,” said Vilna principal Joe Harrington during an earlier presentation to the trustees.”
“We’re in a unique situation here at Vilna where there is a lot of choice that kids have, and sometimes a bad day or a bad week, or in junior high, a breakup, can have kids wanting to switch schools.”
