The Director of Education for the Avon Maitland District School Board was able to inform trustees the board has complied with class size guidelines set by the Ministry for this school year.
Ted Doherty explains the guidelines require that school boards make sure 90 per cent of their grade one to three classes do not exceed twenty students and the maximum be capped at 23. Doherty adds each school board also has a target for grades four to eight, and that is usually based on historical date. Doherty points out meeting the targets can be a challenge because they base their estimated class sizes on projections made each spring. But people move and a lot of things can happen between June and September.
Doherty says they were lucky this year to have more elementary students than expected, but that did mean creating more classes, and some principals had to do some scrambling to accommodate those students and meeting the Ministry guidelines.
Doherty adds any increase in enrollment is good news, but it's even better if they can prepare for it in the spring rather than the fall.
