SECTION

emerging on where Coast
Mountains students are
going when they leave
school before the end of
lhe year. Most of them
aren't moving out of the
district or the province.

Instead, most. are sec-
ondary students who have
withdrawn or enrolled in
correspondence school, a
new enrolment report that
tracks individual students
shows.» _

Fighty-eight students
withdrew from schools in
the Coast. Mountains
School District between
September to December,

Another 17 students en-~

rolled at the North Coast
Distance ~. Education
school, while 57 moved
out of district.

District assistant super-
intendent Rob Greenwood
began tracking individual
students this fall as part of
his monthly enrolment re-
port for school trustees.

It’s been suspected that
families are moving out
the school district, but
until now, it’s not been
known how many, With-
drawals are seen as less
serious because it’s hoped
thase students will return
to school to complete their

_ education in: the future, -

Declining. enrolment is
at the heart of the cash
crunch © crisis at the dis-

trict, which needs to chop
as much as-$5.3 million in
aperating expenses in

arder to balance ils budget.

next year, ,

That figure is partly
based on the assumption
the district will again lose
about 350 students by next

September. The district”

has lost the equivalent of

111: full-time students ©
since the “start of the cur-_-

rent school year.

‘Terrace: leads: the pack .
when il-comes,to declining -

enrolment, fallowed by the
; communities of Hazelton,
. Kitimat and Stewart. Ter-

“Survey
backs up
French
immersion
A SECOND survey of par-
ents in Terrace has found
there is still enough de-
mand: for a new French
Immersion program that
-would start in Grade 6, the
local chapter of Canadian
Parents for-French says,
~The..-group recently
completed a second survey
of ‘parents of children in

Grades 3:to 6:
2 The: results show there’s

enough: interest to make up’

a. Grade ‘5/6 class of 31
students, member. Darcie
Annesley told Coast
Mountains school trustees.

f. French Immer-
tudenis, ‘Canadian
Pa ents for French hopes
‘to'bolster the existing pro-
“gram: at. the high school

aie said adding
french immersion

deral , money
‘over mobt of .the

“A survey conducted
atly-two years ago 130
terested” ina

ha starts: in Grade 6. .

-www.terracestandard.c

Students remaining
here after leaving
school, study finds

A CLEARER picture is -

By “adding. a second.

French immersion program

race area schools last 59
full time students since the
end of September. Twenty
of those students left dur-
ing the month of Decem-

ber, when Greenwood

began tracking individual
students.

One enrolled in corre-
spondence courses, three

entered alternate pro-.

grams, and seven with-

drew, Nine moved out of

the district bul none to an-

; other province.

‘Terrace’s student popu-
lation has dropped by 380
over the past [wo years — a
number that could fill a
large elementary school.
Enrolment here stood at
3,905 in. September 2000,

“but it’s just 3,515 now.

Other communities are
losing students as well,

Enrolment dropped in Ha- —

zelton area schools by 29
students sirice the. start. of
the current school year.

In December, 13 with-
drew from high school, one
Kitwanga student moved
oul of the district and two

‘fill a medium-sized ele-
~mentary school.

ber. That’s a lot less than

South Hazelton elemen-
tary students moved out of
province. Total enrolment
there now sits at 1,084,
down from 1,187 in 2000.
Kitimat has lost 22 stu-
dents so far this school
year, putting it in third
place in terms of enrol-
ment decline in the dis-
trict. In December, four
students dropped out, one
,moved out of the district
‘and two moved out of the '
province.TWo years ago,
2,100 students were en-
rolled in Kitimat schools.
The Aluminum City

now has 1,811 students - a
decline of 289, enough to

‘Stewart, which lost one
of its two schools due to ©
budget culs, has lost just
one student since Septem-

@ Dream catching

KAYLA Kinney, 10, and Vanessa Pelletier, 17,
show off the dream catchers they made at

‘in 2001-02, when enrol-

ment there dropped from ‘hosted workshops on_ storytelling, weaving,

0, a diff { . ; . a
116 to 80, a difference of | Tobit Elementary's first ever aboriginal spirit beadwork, traditional games, dancing and mak-

36 students, or about one-
tea aunty 13. i ivity “ing dream catchers. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO
third of the public school day Feb. 13. The school was buzzing with aint ; 9

as quests from the local aboringinal community

population there.

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