Local school district enrollment numbers released

By: 
Robert Maharry

The recently finalized school enrollment numbers at Grundy County’s five primary districts are something of a mixed bag this fall: Gladbrook-Reinbeck and AGWSR have reversed previous trends with a notable upswing in enrollment, while BCLUW, Grundy Center and Dike-New Hartford all saw slight decreases compared to the 2017-2018 school year.
 
AGWSR
AGWSR’s certified enrollment (the total number of students living in the district) is 646.3 this year, up 20 from last October, and the number of students served, often called “butts in seats,” is 582.61—up from 578.3 a year ago.
           
Erik Smith, the first-year superintendent, is excited about the gains and hopes that they’ll continue in the years ahead.
           
“It’s great to have those numbers and to see that growth. It does make things a little easier when making financial decisions moving forward,” he said. “I think we just have to continue to do everything we can to build our district.”
           
After over a decade of steady decline, district officials are thrilled about the latest numbers, but nonetheless, the conversations about open enrollment out will be ongoing: in all, AGWSR is still at a net negative of around 64 students, and 13 of the “new” students are open enrolled into other districts. Of all of the neighboring districts, Grundy Center gets the most kids who live within the boundaries of AGWSR, especially those who are south and east of Wellsburg.
           
“Geography plays a huge role into open enrollment,” Smith said. “When you get to the northwest or southeast corner, you’re a pretty good distance away from one of the attendance centers.”
 
BCLUW
Enrollment, both certified and actual, fell by about 11 students at BCLUW this fall, and Superintendent Ben Petty knows it’s part of a larger trend with rural districts. The certified number for 2018-2019 is 520.22, and the actual enrollment is 558.72.
           
Because of its proximity to Marshalltown, BCLUW remains open enrollment positive by a wide margin (about 42 students), but currently, all but one of the classes at the elementary school (grades kindergarten through fourth) are under 40 students. The senior class, with 61 students, is the district’s largest. 
 
Read the full report in this week's Grundy Register. Subscribe by calling (319) 824-6958 or clicking here. 

The Grundy Register

601 G. Avenue - P.O. Box 245
Grundy Center, IA 50638
Telephone: 1-319-824-6958
Fax: 1-800-340-0805

Mid-America Publishing

This newspaper is part of the Mid-America Publishing Family. Please visit www.midampublishing.com for more information.