The Superintendent of Corporate Services for the Avon Maitland District School Board, says overall she's pleased with the latest ten-year enrollment projections.
Cheri Carter explains the ten-year projection was based on Stat Can's 2016 census data and she says the projection is very encouraging.
Carter says the projections suggest enrollment at the elementary level has started to stabilize after declining for a several years and is beginning to bounce back.
Carter points out they don't expect enrollment to come back to where it was years ago, but it does look like they could recover back to the 2010 – 2011 levels.
Carter says they've seen a number of years of decline at the secondary level but she says the recovery at the elementary level is also starting to show up at the secondary level as well. She says they're seeing a slight, but steady upward trend out to 2028 – 29, so, it doesn't recover back to levels of 2014 – 15 or even earlier, but it's a positive move for sure.
Carter points out there is currently a moratorium throughout Ontario on school closures, and adds Long Term Enrolment projections are part of the analysis that takes place when considering school closure.
She also points out numbers near the end of a ten-year projection could be influenced by a number of factors towards the end of that projection. And their are exceptions to the general trend from one school to another. But she says, overall, she's very happy with the numbers.