By Madeline Kerr

After years of uncertainty during the pandemic, regional schools are breathing a sigh of relief that enrolment numbers are steady and predictable this year.

According to George Singfield, the director-general of the Western Quebec School Board (WQSB), the slight increase in the number of students registered with his board’s 31 schools was no surprise. Singfield reported that the WQSB welcomed 7,990 students from K4 through Grade 11 this year, up from 7,909 last year.

Homeschooling numbers, which Singfield said used to hover around 70 students who were registered with the school board but receiving their education at home, jumped up to 300 during the pandemic but have settled to 117 this year.

“There’s always a little bit of fluctuation,” said Singfield. “The ministry gives us good projections.”

The region’s French school board, the Centre de services scolaire des Portages-de-l’Outaouais (CSSPO), has seen similar growth across its 25 schools, with an increase of 352 students this year. CSSPO communications coordinator Maude Hébert told the Low Down that the jump to 18,261 total students across the region was expected.

Recently, Chelsea municipality announced that it was one step closer to building a new French language elementary school, which it hopes to do by 2026. A spokesperson for the municipality told the Low Down that the number of students requiring placement in a French school in Chelsea will climb by 300 by 2026. Until then, CSSPO plans to accommodate surplus students at Grande Boisé, currently Chelsea’s only French elementary school.

Both WQSB and CSSPO report that all schools in the region are currently fully staffed, despite an announcement by Quebec’s Education Ministry at the start of the school year that the province faced widespread teacher shortages.

Earlier this month, news outlets reported that violent incidents were on the rise in Quebec schools. Regionally, that is not the case, according to local school authorities. Neither Singfield nor Hébert reported heightened concerns regarding violence in their schools.

“Thank goodness we have not seen this [increase in violence] at our school,” added Hadley Junior and Philemon Wright High School principal Dodie Payne.