The Gulf Islands School District (SD64) is ending a long-running program that had welcomed international students to Salt Spring’s Gulf Islands Secondary School (GISS), citing both financial pressures and declining enrolment.
At its meeting Wednesday, Nov. 13, a clearly conflicted school board voted nonetheless unanimously to end the Gulf Islands International Program (GIIP), effective June 30, 2025. The board considered its options as a report from SD64 secretary treasurer Jesse Guy outlined an enduring pattern of rising costs, fewer interested international students and a declining number of islanders making their homes available for those students to stay.
The GIIP had been in operation for 25 years, and trustees noted enrolment in such programs had decreased throughout the province as attitudes toward international travel shifted globally.
The program, they said, did provide additional diversity to the district, and one or two additional teachers at the high school — as well as a modest amount of homestay revenue to the community who opened their homes.
But since the onset of the pandemic, the program had yet to return to the 55 to 65 students per year that kept the program financially stable, according to Guy, adding that the current numbers sit at 35 to 40 each year.
“This was not an easy report to write,” said Guy, agreeing the number was restricted not just by slowing demand but by fewer available homestays. Trustee Rob Pingle said he knew of at least one household that had not planned on offering a place for international students that year, but took on several “out of a benevolence” to allow them to come.
“I benefitted from the international program, so I don’t dislike it,” said Pingle. “It’s just that the writing’s on the wall; it’s been operating at a loss for a number of years.”
Further, Pingle noted, with the recent configuration change to fold Grade 8 into GISS, that facility itself is more or less at capacity.
“Thirty-five fewer students in that building means our students will have more room to breathe and move,” he said. “We have to realize what size we are as a district, and work within our means.”
Guy said just four applications had been received for the cancelled program, and no tuition had been accepted yet.
In an announcement issued the next day, SD64 superintendent/CEO Jill Jensen extended the board’s “heartfelt appreciation” to all of the program’s staff for their contributions over the years — particularly program manager Sheri Wakefield — and to the families who had provided homestays.
“For 25 years, the international program has been a cornerstone of pride in our district,” wrote Jensen, “fostering dynamic and diverse learning environments and enhancing cultural awareness. As this program concludes, we celebrate its enduring legacy of cultural exchange, lifelong friendships and global understanding, which will continue to inspire us to broaden our worldviews and perspectives.”
Editor’s note: For more about the GIIP, see a story in the current Aqua – Gulf Islands Living magazine, which went to press before news about the program’s cancellation was shared.