A projected 5,380 students will be returning to classrooms in Southeast Kootenay School District 5 next Tuesday and this number is good news as far as educational administrators are concerned.

Enrolment has been dropping for more than a decade in District 5, as it has in the rest of the province, but the decline locally has slowed to little more than a trickle because of strong kindergarten numbers.

Some 380 kindergarten students are enrolled in District 5 this year, the highest number in seven years and this has District 5 Director of Learning Glenn Dobie smiling.

“Our kindergarten numbers are up substantially and we are very pleased,” he said, adding there are more students in kindergarten this year than there are in grades through one to five. “Hopefully this is more than a one-year blip because if it continues it bodes well for the school system and the entire community.”

The increased kindergarten numbers won’t completely make up for the enrolment decline because approximately 513 students will graduate from the District this year, leaving a deficit of 130 students. But the difference this year between the number of Grade 12’s going out and the number of kindergarteners coming in is the lowest in years which is why District 5 administrators are more optimistic about the educational picture this year than in previous years.

Another major change in this school year will be the advent of full-day kindergarten in most of the District’s elementary schools. In Cranbrook, the only elementary schools not to get the full-day kindergarten program will be Kootenay Orchards Elementary and Highlands Elementary schools and they will be getting the program in September of 2011.

“We would have preferred to have it (full-day kindergarten) in every school, but hopefully by this time next year that will be a reality,” said Dobie, adding the District only received funding to provide full-day kindergarten to 200 students this year.

In Cranbrook’s remaining five elementary schools, full-day kindergarten is “good to go,” said Dobie, adding the teachers are in place and the District has been given an extra “$15,000 in targeted funds to ensure the new kindergarten classes are staffed and equipped properly for the new program.

Once enrolment is completed next week and classes organized, the District is not anticipating any problems meeting the Education Ministry guidelines for class sizes, Dobie said. This means there can be no more than 22 children in a kindergarten class and a maximum of 30 students in elementary, middle school and high school classes, he said.

Some combined or “split” classes are inevitable, but at this time it’s impossible to say how many there will be, Dobie said. However, he said he’s not expecting any more splits this year than what there usually are in the system.

Once again this year, Cranbrook students will be on a “modified” school calendar which means that students get roughly every second Friday off and teachers the same except for statutory long weekends and professional development days. The calendar is posted on the District 5 website for anyone unsure of the schedule.

Schools are in session for 178 days in the 2010 – 2011 school year with Christmas holidays running from Dec. 17 to Jan. 4 and the spring break from March 12 to March 28 including weekends and statutory holidays.

New technology continues to play a bigger role in the classroom, with the District doubling its “SMART Board” total to 100 in the 2010 – 2011 school year. SMART Boards are the equivalent of a digital blackboard and are connected to the Internet enabling them to bring vide, pictures and sound to the classroom from all over the world.

“It brings the digital world live to the classroom,” said Dobie, much like watching the news live on TV. “It’s highly motivating for both students and teachers.”

Under its new cell phone policy, the District will also allow cell phones to be used in the classroom as “educational tools” when warranted, Dobie said. However, cell phones cannot be used for personal reasons or if they are disrupting educational instruction, he said.

On Sept. 7, schools will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. although some secondary and middle schools may have different starting times on that day. The first full day of school will be Sept. 8 and the first non-instructional Friday in September will be Sept. 24 which is a professional development day for teachers.

School District 5 also provides support for home schoolers through the Kootenay Discovery School, which follows the B.C. curriculum and provides support for both students and teachers.

More information on this can be obtained by calling (250) 489-5838 or (250) 423-4919 in the Elk Valley.

The District also provides French Immersion instruction at T.M Roberts Elementary, Parkland Middle School, Mount Baker Secondary and Isabella Dicken Elementary in Fernie.