Thousands of Calgary Catholic School District students head back to class
As summer winds down, tens of thousands of students in Calgary and its surrounding communities are heading back to school.
Tuesday marks the beginning of a staggered return to class for Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) students.
Glenn Johnston, principal of Holy Name School, says it’s the best day of the year.
"It's the excitement in the air. New beginnings, new grade for all the students. In some cases, a new school for them, so it's just an exciting time."
Marjorie Junio-Read’s daughter Celeste is heading to Grade 1.
"It's a big day," said Junio-Read.
"We're really excited for her to start learning again, for her to get into the routine, see all her friends and just really start to grow."
There are now roughly 60,000 students spread out across 118 CCSD schools.
With Calgary's population growing rapidly, so too is student enrolment.
The CCSD saw an increase of 2,154 in enrolment for the 2022-23 school compared to the prior school year, well above the district's prediction of 1,400 new students.
CCSD superintendent Bryan Szumlas says the Catholic school board is increasing its teaching staff to deal with the influx.
"Our pupil services team have worked really hard over the summer months to hire teachers," Szumlas said.
"We had to replace about 150 teachers that retired in the spring, and then, as we go forward here into the fall, we're looking at hiring approximately … just under 100 teachers as we go forward."
The increased enrolment brought the average school utilization rate up to 84.26 per cent, which is still just below the provincial benchmark of 85 per cent.
However, some CCSD schools were still at or above capacity.
"We know this year, we're not opening any new schools other than our storefront outreach, high school to help some of our most vulnerable youth," Szumlas said.
"Right now, we're going to make it work with the space that we have. Consequently, our classes may be a bit larger, but really, students don't come to us in nice little classrooms of 25."
Much like the Calgary Board of Education, the Catholic district will have to work on balancing out enrolment and increasing capacity in more popular communities.
Szumlas says some over-capacity CCSD schools are moving students to schools with lower enrolment.
"We do have some schools right now within Calgary Catholic, where we are controlling their enrolment and so they are redirected to other schools. And we especially see this in new booming communities. So when we look around the city of Calgary which is growing extensively, some of those new communities that are coming online, the Catholic students are bused to certain schools that do have room"
Tuesday also marks back-to-school for Rocky View Schools (RVS), which has recently seen some of the most significant jumps in student enrolment.
Heading into the previous school year, RVS saw its number of students jump to 27,772. That represented a 4.3 per cent jump, far exceeding the school board's prediction.
That board includes schools in Airdrie, Cochrane, Chestermere and other communities to the north, west and east of Calgary.
The latest CCSD and RVS enrolment data should be available in the coming weeks.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
'What have we done?' Lawyer describes shock at possible role in Trump's 2016 victory
A lawyer who negotiated a pair of hush money deals at the centre of Donald Trump's criminal trial recalled Thursday his "gallows humor" reaction to Trump's 2016 election victory and the realization that his hidden-hand efforts might have contributed to the win.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Universities grapple with the complicated politics of campus encampments
Montreal police are facing pressure to move in and dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University campus on Thursday, as a growing number of universities across this country grapple with the tough decision of how to handle the protests.
Conservative MP says Chinese hacking attack targeted his personal email
A Conservative MP is challenging claims by House of Commons administration that a China-backed hacking attempt did not impact any members of Parliament, because the attack was on his personal email.
Loblaw leaders call criticism 'misguided,' say they aren't to blame for high food prices
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston and the company's new CEO are pushing back against critics who blame the grocery giant for soaring food prices, as a month-long boycott of the retailer gets underway.
Heavy police presence at McGill University as counter-protesters assemble opposite pro-Palestinian encampment
A heavy police presence was at McGill University on Thursday morning, as counter-protesters assembled opposite the pro-Palestinian encampment at the school.