Foothills Composite High School had 1,262 traditional students and an additional 26 in its HUB system as the 2019-20 official Sept. 30 enrolment figures were presented to Foothills School Division trustees on Oct. 2. The division had an increase of 102 students across the Foothills from last year. Provincial school funding is based upon the Sept. 30 count.
It's getting close to full at the Comp, but like family gathered around Thanksgiving dinner, still comfortable.
“It was certainly a bit of a surprise, it meant a bit of scrambling in getting kids into the classes that they chose,” said Foothills Composite principal Vince Hunter. “The most difficult piece is CTS (career technology studies) and options because typically we only have one teacher who teaches those.
“So if it is full we have to start looking at their (students) second or third choices… We did not have turn many kids away from the choices they wanted to have.”
Administrators were estimating slightly more than 1,100 students when enrolment projections for the Comp were done last spring. Hunter said projections are usually conservative as it is easier to adjust if enrolment is higher than expected rather than less.
“We were able to add one staff. We were staffed really well prior, (to the school year),” Hunter said.
He said with the new hire the Comp was able to split some classes in the high 30s. They were core classes (social studies and English).
However, the popularity of CTS classes such as welding, mechanics, some fine arts that aren’t offered at other schools could be an issue in the future.
“You only have one school that offers mechanics for example, when that space is full what are other options? We are already talking about how we can evolve if our numbers continue to grow,” Hunter said. “So we can provide those activities for kids.”
He said long-term strategies could include having classes outside the traditional time periods. At present there is one jazz program which is taught after 3:30 p.m. because of demand.
Some of the students at the Comp are from outside of the school’s boundary because certain programs may not be offered at Oilfields or Highwood high schools.
Hunter said talks are done with families to ensure that the classes, such as welding, aren’t offered at the Comp’s sister schools.
“If that experience exists at your community schools that's where you need to be,” Hunter said. “Oilfields and Highwood offer great programming too.”
So far, it has not had to shut the door on a student seeking a class not offered at its community school.
Foothills Comp has added a modular classroom which should be open this week.
Allen Davidson, division assistant superintendent of employment services, said while the Comp is approaching its 100 per cent utilization mark, the school is not facing the same pressures as is being experienced in schools in Calgary.
At present, a new high school in the northern portion of town, likely at the Okotoks Community Campus near Meadow Ridge School, is second on the division’s capital plan. A K- Grade 9 school in the D’Arcy area is no. 1.
Davidson said any school would be at least five years down the road.
Okotoks elementary schools Big Rock, Percy Pegler, Dr. Morris Gibson and the K-Grade 9 Westmount experienced decreases in enrolment with the opening of the K-Grade 8 Meadow Ridge School in September.
“That’s been positive,” Davidson said. “It’s nice to have those school sizes so that as a school leader, you can pretty well know every kid in the building,” Davidson said. “But that meant a big movement of staff across the division.”
