Fort St. John school enrolment booming along with economic activity

A boom in Fort St. John is fuellinggrowth in school enrolment across the city, bucking a province-wide trend.

"The northeast part of the province is booming, it's growing, and with that brings a lot more children, a lot more students," said B.C.Education Minister MikeBernier.

Bernier was in Fort St. John on Tuesday to announce a new $25-million elementary school for thenorthwest partof the city.

Many B.C. school districts are copingwith empty desks and decisions around which schools to shut down.Statistics from the province show enrolment in public schools in B.C. is down about five per cent from 2010/2011.

The trend, however, isn't consistentacross the province. Other school districts, like Surrey in the Lower Mainland, have also reported a growth in enrolment. Andenrolment at private schools has risen by nearly 15 per cent over the past four years.

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Doug Boyd, the Fort St. Johnschool district's secretary-treasurer, says several hundred extra students showed up for class in the city this year a number that reached far beyond the district'sprojections.

"It's one of those things that's very difficult to predict because there's Site C, anticipation regarding LNG projects there seems to be a lot of activity and it's bringing people here," said Boyd.

After this new school gets built,Fort St. John will stillneedtwo more to meet demand.