THUNDER BAY-- Some McKenzie Public School students are in triple grade classrooms this year because of declining enrollment in the area.
Lakehead Public Schools superintendent of education Colleen Kappel said over the last five years, the Lakeshore Drive school has seen about a 25 per cent drop in the number of students enrolled.
That decrease led the board to create two triple grade classes – one with students in Grades 1,2 and 3 and one with students in Grades 4,5 and 6.
Kappel said declining enrollment is a trend seen throughout the board and while triple grade classrooms are new for the Thunder Bay area, they are common with other rural boards like the Superior-Greenstone District School Board where Kappel served as superintendent in the past.
McKenzie principal Laurel Moir said students and teachers are doing well with the new format and they are bringing in math resources teachers weekly and for 100 minutes each day, the teachers in the triple grade classrooms have the support of two other teachers, who will take students in smaller groups for subjects like social studies and writing.
“So far our children are thriving. Our teachers are thriving. Our parent community is assured that we are meeting the needs of all learners as we always do in each school year,” Moir said.
The primary classroom has 22 students and the junior class has 23 and there are even siblings in the classes.
“There’s a family feel to this school. There always has been. That feeds nicely into it,” said Moir, adding they haven’t had any concerns from parents or students within startup of the school year.
Kappel said they crunched the enrollment numbers at the end of the last school year and they had sufficient time to inform the school community of the plans for the classrooms.
“There were initially some concerns but, as the principal mentioned, kids are thriving and we have a very solid staff here who are committed to all the students and it seems to be going very well,” she said.
“We are in touch with the principal and she will identify any concerns she may have and we will address those concerns.”
There are no plans to implement triple grade classes in any other schools in the public board, but Kappel said that could change pending enrollment projections near the end of the school year.
