THE North Vancouver school district is still suffering from declining enrolment, but officials say the downward trend is levelling off.
As of Sept. 21, North Vancouver public schools had 15,157 students in attendance, 157 fewer than last year.
"Declining enrolment will continue for a few more years," said superintendent John Lewis. "But that decline is decreasing each year."
Most North Vancouver schools actually saw slightly more students than projected, with 68 additional students registering compared to 2010 spread evenly across the kindergarten to Grade 12 system and in continuing education. But those gains were wiped out by the departure of Windsor House, a program that joined the Gulf Islands School District after North Vancouver decided last year to amalgamate its alternative programs.
"If Windsor House had continued within North Vancouver, we would have had 15,257 students - 100 more than our forecast," said Lewis.
Still, he said, "I think we were very close."
Lewis praised administrators and staff for an "exceptionally smooth start to the school year." He also noted that the student population forecast in April was only one pupil off of the Sept. 21 head count.
"We went through some difficult times, looking at school closures and actually doing school closures," said trustee Susan Skinner. "I think people often don't believe our statistics, our information. But it's actually bang-on."
On the other side of the ledger, most of the 72 teachers who got layoff notice from the district this year were either brought back or reassigned. Only four teachers remain unplaced, and they will be employed on an on-call basis. Overall, the North Vancouver School District employs approximately 2,000 staff.
Meanwhile, enrolment is up in West Vancouver, with 7,200 students this year, 149 more than in September 2010.
