By Chad Klassen

Schools across district noticing more students than expected on day one

Sep 5, 2017 | 5:03 PM

KAMLOOPS — Ready or not, Tuesday marked back to school for thousands of kids across School District 73.

After a subpar summer that didn’t feel much like summer thanks to all the smoke, students returned to the classrooms for the first time since June. Many of the kids also seeing some friends for the first time in a while. 

“I’m really excited to be back to school with all my friends,” said one student at Beattie Elementary. 

However, not all the kids were thrilled about going back to class. 

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“School sucks. That’s what I think,” said another student before going in for his first day. 

On day one, Beattie Elementary School is noticing more kids than expected.

“We had about 25 new children that we weren’t expecting to come in the door this morning,” said Beattie Elementary principal Blair Lloyd. “What we’ll do is work as a team and figure out where we’re going to put those kids, and we’ll make sure they get a seat somewhere.”

Principal Blair Lloyd doesn’t want to give up this spacious music room for a class, but he may have to if the students keep coming through the doors. He might also need another full-time teacher. 

“By the end of the week, as we are forming class size, if we are over student population in each class, what we’ll do is I’ll make a phone call down to the school district,” noted Lloyd. 

The district has already added 70 teachers based on the Supreme Court of Canada ruling on class size and composition, and if needed it’ll add more. 

“It’s very possible that we will be adding additional teachers to some schools, depending on their enrolment,” said School District 73 superintendent Alison Sidow. “At the end of the week, the assistant make some recommendation as to where we should potentially add some teachers.”

The district would look to current TOCs for any new hires, but will have a better idea on any new teachers on Friday when the preliminary enrolment numbers are revealed.