Pembina Hills School Division has an increase of about 100 more students in its schools this year, according to Superintendent Brett Cooper.
The division's region includes the communities of Westlock, Barrhead, Swan Hills and Clyde, as well as the counties of Westlock, Woodland and Barrhead, and a portion of Big Lakes County and the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River, according its website.
“Our biggest increase has shown up in Barrhead Elementary with approximately an extra 70 or more students. RF Staples appears to be very close to projected numbers and Westlock Elementary appears to be up at least 15 students.
“At the elementary level, we are seeing some bigger classes, and in high school, there are classes of 30 and larger in some cases,” he added. “Overall, it is manageable and working."
Busby is over capacity for utilization, but the division is making it work, he said. Neerlandia is also very close to 90 per cent utilization.
“The other schools are within reasonable ranges for utilization."
“We may need to consider how to address some of the pressures for class space if we continue to grow. It is a nice problem to have but I also recognize that Alberta Education and Alberta Infrastructure has school divisions that are exploding with growing enrolment, ours is a nice steady growth, which is very welcome.”
The division has 3,600 students in 16 communities, including two Hutterite Colony Schools and two outreach schools.
