School District 53 Okanagan Similkameen - Demographics

Demographics

1,303 of those 2,665 students within the district attend elementary schools, while 1,202 attend secondary schools; 102 are adult education students. School District 53 contains 480 employees, and its motto is "Learning Today for Living Tomorrow". While its board chair is Marieze Tarr, its secretary treasurer is Lynda Minnabarriet and its MLA is John Slater. The district has five trustees. It provides a school bus transportation service, in order to get children to their school and home, being responsible to the Director of Facilities. The bus service has been considered for expansion.

The British Columbia province gives funds to the school district, so that it can maintain their schools correctly. The amount given is based on the number of kids that are enrolled for the year. Further money is often left over by the end of the year. StrongStart BC, an "early learning initiatives" program, operates at three schools within the district, Okanagan Falls Elementary School, Oliver Elementary School, Cawston Primary School, and Osoyoos Elementary School. The district's boundaries include three First Nations Bands: the Osoyoos Indian Band and the upper and lower Similkameen Bands, all of which are Indian governments.

An emergency—a "sudden", "unexpected" occurrence that requires action for a situation—at schools within the district 53 scope can result in school or bus transportation facilities. This district's policy on emergency was amended on April 30, 2008, which includes fire, threats or facilities, violence, school bus accident, serve weather, earthquake, hazardous spills, accidents, explosions, or floods. The policy was amended because the district recognizes the importance of emergencies, specifically during school's session, that could be both natural and human, hence why it necessitates to develop plans for emergencies. It also maintains a "smoke-free" policy, meaning that it is prohibited to smoke in a district 53 area. This rule was amended on September 26, 2007.