Lethbridge schools face limited space as enrolment increases

In a growing city like Lethbridge, an increase in the school district’s enrolment numbers is inevitable. But there is only so much the system can handle at a time, and the figures from this year are pushing the limits.

“Is it a surprise? Somewhat,” said Superintendent of Lethbridge School District 51, Cheryl Gilmore. “It was higher than we had projected.”

For a number of years, enrolment in the district increased fairly steadily, usually jumping by 1.7 to 2 percentiles year to year. Recently, it’s been a different story. District 51 has counted 9,854 students this year, which is a 4.7% jump from enrolment numbers last year, and 6.9% from the year before. In the past five years, the district has grown 13.8% from 8,496 to its present number of 9,854 students.

“We did have to hire more staff this fall, which we did to accommodate for some pressure points in the district with large classes and that was primarily at the kindergarten and primary level,” said Gilmore.

Six new teachers have been hired in order to keep class sizes were they should be and two schools increased a staff member’s full time equivalent. The issue that will continue to be a problem is having enough space. Many schools within the district, from all areas in the city, are now at or exceeding their maximum capacity.

“When we take a look at a place like say, Lakeview, we’ve been adding modular classrooms onto that school for a few years now because the school is past 100% capacity,” said Gilmore.

The announcement of a new school on the west side of Lethbridge from Premier Jim Prentice earlier this month couldn’t come at a better time.

“We have a need for a middle school,” said Mich Forster, Board Chair for District 51 after the announcement. “Even our elementary schools are fairly full and when Copperwood opens in 2017, all our west side schools will continue to be full.”

The district says it will continue to find space for students with more modular classrooms and more teachers, so classroom sizes can stay where they are.

Here are the enrolment numbers from the past five years:

2014-15 = 9854
2013-14 = 9383
2012-13 = 9168
2011-12 = 8754
2010-11 = 8496