Enrolment at Gabriola Elementary School steady

Rachelle Stein-Wotten

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

Enrolment at Gabriola Elementary is expected to stay comparable to last school year, sitting at 140 students.

Though final enrolment numbers for every school in the district are not submitted to the Ministry of Education and Child Care until Sept. 30, Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools said enrolment at GES generally does not fluctuate much from the beginning of the school year. The number of classrooms will also remain the same as last year.

When school started last week, students in the Grade 5/6 class did not have a permanent teacher yet. While the position was filled in June, since then that teacher has taken another position for the 2023-24 school year elsewhere in the district, NLPS communications director, Dale Burgos, said. As per the collective agreement, that teacher still owns the position, but it will need to be filled by another teacher who will technically be temporary.

Until the final hiring decision is made for the school year, a temporary teacher on call will be in the Grade 5/6 classroom.

Temporary teachers in classrooms at the beginning of the school year “is actually very common across the district,” Burgos said.