School enrollments mixed across the area

After the bell has rung and students are seated in their classrooms across the area, district officials have totaled up the enrollment numbers for this school year.

While some schools have seen an increase in enrollment, others have seen slight decreases. Administrators cite reasons such as the graduation of large classes to increases in non-traditional feeder schools.

Below is a breakdown of local schools.

Waterloo

The total enrollment for the 2013-14 school year at Waterloo Community Unit School District 5 is 2,700, which is down 60 students from last year’s 2,760.

Zahnow Elementary, which houses kindergarten and first grade, has 419 students, a 13-student decrease from last year’s 432.

Second and third graders at Rogers Elementary have an enrollment of 379, which is a decrease of nine students from last year’s enrollment of 388.

Gardner Elementary (fourth and fifth grades) has 369 students this year, which is a significant decrease from last year’s 420, leaving a 51-student gap.

Waterloo Junior High School, which contains grades sixth through eighth, has 638 students this year compared to 646 last year.

Waterloo High School has 895 students this year, which is an increase from last year.

Superintendent Jim Helton said there were still many students registering during the first week of school last week, which is more than usual.

“Zahnow is down from last year due to a smaller kindergarten class (175 compared to  205), but WHS is up by 50 students from last year,” he said.

Helton also said Rogers and Gardner are down in numbers from last year because of a large class entering sixth grade.

Columbia

Columbia Community Unit School District 4 reports a slight decrease in student numbers from last year for the 2013-14 school year, down seven students total.

At Eagleview Elementary, there are 292 students in grades kindergarten and first, down 10 students from last year.

Parkview Elementary, which contains grades second through fourth, reports 418 students, down 33 from last year.

Columbia Middle School has 669 students in fifth through eighth grades, which is up 26 students from last year.

Columbia High School has 690 students this year, which is an increase of 13 students from last year’s numbers.

Valmeyer

Valmeyer’s district enrollment is up slightly this year, according to the school office.

Overall enrollment totals show 505 students this year, an increase in 37 students from last year’s 468.

The elementary school has 257 students this year, a 37-student increase.

The middle school has 106 students, which shows a decrease of four students from last year’s 110.

Last year, the high school had an enrollment of 138. For the 2013-14 school year, there are 142 students.

Gibault Catholic

Gibault has seen an increase in students since last year’s enrollment number of 228. For the 2013-14 school year, the school has a total of 260 students.

Gibault principal Russ Hart attributes this jump to Gibault’s increase in students from traditional non-feeder schools and the college-type setting Gibault offers.

“We’ve had a great spark, and we’ve been scrambling be- cause this spike impacts many things,” Hart said. “It affects scheduling and classroom setup along with staffing, but it’s a great problem.”

Pat Herzing, the director of enrollment, said Gibault has received a larger percentage of students from the traditional feeder schools, along with the increase in non-traditional schools and transfer students from Columbia, Waterloo and Cahokia public high schools.

Ss. Peter and Paul

Enrollment at Ss. Peter & Paul Catholic Grade School in Waterloo has seen a slight decrease in enrollment this school year.

The grade school had 332 students last year enrolled in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade last year and has 310 this year.

Fifty of those students are enrolled in the school’s Pre-K program, leaving kindergarten through eighth grade enrollment at 260.

Principal Lisa Buchheit said she is happy to have all the students in one building, finally.

The school has ceased use of the trailers that were set up while the addition was being built, and now all the students are housed in the same building.

“It’s been absolutely great,” she said.

Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Conception Catholic Grade School in Columbia has seen a slight in- crease in enrollment for the 2013-14 school year.

Though the grade school saw a decrease last year, Principal Mike Kish said enrollment has gone from 271 students to 272 this year.

“We’re tickled because we graduated 39 students in May,” he said. “There are fewer kids coming through these days, but we’d still like to see more.”

ICS is in its second year of offering pre-kindergarten, which helped boost numbers from 253 without the Pre-K to 271 with it last year.

Dupo

Dupo Community Unit School District 196 has about the same number of students enrolled this year as last year, with pre-kindergarten included.

Including Pre-K, last year’s enrollment was 1,180. This year’s total enrollment is 1,176.

In Pre-K through sixth grade, there are 678 students enrolled.

Dupo Junior High School has 178 students enrolled, which is a nine-student decrease from last year.

The high school has 320 students enrolled, which is a slight decrease from last year’s 326.


Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Republic-Times

The Republic-Times has been Monroe County's hometown newspaper since 1890. Serving Columbia, Waterloo, Valmeyer, Hecker and every town in between, we strive to provide the news that matters most to you in the timeliest manner possible. For more information on subscribing to the Republic-Times, call 939-3814 or visit the "Subscribe" page on this website.
HTC web
MonroeCountyElectric300X15012_19