Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
School District 55 enrollment was up by 60 to 100 students last week, ending a trend of declining enrollment in recent years.
This marks the first year enrollment has increased since Supt. Larry Horton has worked in Sweet Home. He is starting his fourth school year.
“Our first week has been a very positive week ? relatively few problems; and the ones we have had have been minor,” Horton said. “I’ve heard an awful lot of staff saying it’s probably one of the best years they’ve had beginning in a long time.”
“It’s going great,” Sweet Home Junior High Principal Hal Huschka said.
Sweet Home High School Principal Pat Stineff also reported a smooth first week.
“The junior high’s got about 400 kids, up a bit from where we thought we’d be,” Huschka said, but school is going “very, very smoothly ? extremely well right now.”
Class sizes are larger than previous years in some places, Horton said, and that adds some stress, but the district will work through it and get assistants where they are needed.
Huschka said he had some classes numbering round 30.
Horton said he believed one class at Holley numbers 29 students.
In recent years, classes have exceeded 30 students, but those were quickly adjusted, Horton said. Research has shown that up to 30 students is manageable.
“I would say that we are nearing capacity,” without adding staff, Horton said. Much of the growth was at Holley, where the district added one teacher and changed a teachers’ computer lab to a classroom. Holley’s enrollment increased from 78 to 98.
All district elementary schools except Holley have at least one more classroom available, Horton said. Those rooms get used by teachers for one thing or another when not used as classrooms.
“I think we have space at every site (except Holley) if it were required,” Horton said. The junior high and high school may be a different story. He had not had a chance to see their numbers as of Sept. 9.
An enrollment increase of 100 students would net the School District about $500,000 in revenues, Horton said.
The district receives about $2,500 per kindergarten student and about $5,000 per student first through 12th grade from the state, Business Manager Kevin Strong said. The district budgeted for no increase in enrollment this year.
“If enrollment continues to remain stable, we’ll be in a better financial position than we originally budgeted,” Strong said.