The number of students attending public school on Haida Gwaii is down to approximately 552, trustees learned at the Oct. 28 school board meeting.The total head count of students, including adult students, comes to 565, according to the preliminary report from mid-October. Because some students are not full-time, that number translates to 552.25 full-time equivalents.Superintendent Angus Wilson told trustees the number is slightly lower than expected but not far off, noting that it is particularly difficult to predict how many e-school students will register.This year's enrollment is the lowest in recent memory but it is not the lowest ever on Haida Gwaii. To put the number in context, Mr. Wilson said the school district had just 260 students in 1955. On the flip side, in 1977 the district had over 1,400 students.Looking at this year's numbers by school, G.M. Dawson Secondary has about 108 FTE students and Queen Charlotte Secondary has about 135. A.L. Mathers has 49 (including e-school students), Port Clements 41, Sk'aadgaa Naay 149 and Tahayghen 71.The biggest cohort is the current group of grade 6s, of which there are 59 between the four elementary schools. In contrast, there are only 26 students in grade 2.