The calendar says it is Aug.  25, but the weather feels like it’s Sept. 25. Either way, school has started, and with it, enrollment numbers across the area have rolled in with the early chill.

“I just think that everybody is excited to be back, we had a great year last year,” Columbia superintendent Dr. Gina Segobiano said. “We’re just continuing in that great spirit. Fall is so much fun with sports and everyone back at school. The energy level is so high. It’s always a good feeling to get back to school and start a new year.”

The numbers look to continue a downward trend from last year, but not by much. The breakdowns of each school and district follow.

Waterloo
For the Waterloo Community Unit School District 5, last year’s enrollment for the entire district stood at 2,678 students. That was down 22 students from the 2013-14 school year. This year’s number is at 2,673 — a decrease of five students.

Zahnow Elementary, for kindergarten and first grade students, has 412 kids, down seven students from a year ago.

Rogers Elementary has seen a decrease of just two second and third graders with an enrollment of 392 students this year.

Fourth and fifth graders at Gardner Elementary total 389 students, an increase of seven students.

Waterloo Junior High School, grades six through eight, houses 592 junior high students. That was the steepest decrease of the schools in Waterloo, with a loss of 29 students.

Waterloo High School increased its student total from 862 students last year to 888 students this year.

Columbia
Enrollment at Columbia Community Unit School District 4 has deceased from 2,025 to 2,001 students in the district for the 2015-16 school year.

Eagleview Elementary, which teaches kindergarten and first grade, has 271 students this year, up 20 kids from last year.

Parkview Elementary, grades second through fourth, has 419 students this year. That is a decrease of 36 students.

Columbia Middle School houses fifth through eighth graders and has 597 students this year, down from 609 last year.

Columbia High School has 694 students, a decrease of 20 students this year.

The pre-K program has 21 students this year, identical to last year.

Columbia has welcomed two new assistant principals this year. Angela Huels will step into the high school assistant principal role after teaching at the high school for multiple years. April Becherer will be the assistant principal at Eagleview Elementary — this is her first year in the district.

“We have two new administrators that joined our team,” Dr. Segobiano said. “They bring a lot of different skills and knowledge to the district, so we’re excited about that. We have a lot of new teachers, more than ever, do to our special education program being a standalone and some resignations and retirements. We’ve got a great group.”

Valmeyer
Valmeyer School District’s total enrollment is listed at 448 students. That is a decrease of 36 students.
In kindergarten through fifth grade, the student count stands at 199. Middle school is reported at 106 students. The high school is at 143 students, down from 154.

Superintendent Eric Frankford noted the official enrollments reported to the state are based upon fall housing reports which go out Sept. 30 of each year. So, the official enrollment could change, but not by much.

Gibault Catholic
Gibault has seen an increase of six students for this school year, up to 247 total.
Broken down by class size they are as follows: 57 freshmen, 54 sophomores, 74 juniors and 62 seniors.
Ss. Peter & Paul

There are 274 students enrolled from kindergarten to eighth grade at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Grade School in Waterloo this year. That is an increase of 12 students from a year ago.

Immaculate Conception
Immaculate Conception Catholic Grade School in Columbia increased enrollment from 293 kids to 313 this year.

The numbers include pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.

Dupo
Dupo’s School District enrollment saw another increase this year to 1,158 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. The total is up from 17 students at this time last year.