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by
Cathy
St.
Clair
News
Editor
With
the
2006-07
academic
year
now
a
little
more
than
a
week
old,
Buchanan
County
School
System
officials
were
pleased
to
learn
Monday
that
six-day
enrollment
figures
showed
the
school
division
with
five
more
students
than
it
had
anticipated
when
work
was
done
in
the
spring
to
develop
a
budget
for
the
current
school
year.
The
even
better
news,
according
to
Superintendent
Tommy
P.
Justus,
is
that
those
numbers
are
likely
to
continue
to
climb
throughout
the
month
of
September,
based
on
past
historical
patterns.
"Our
enrollment
usually
peaks
by
right
after
Labor
Day
to
the
end
of
September,"
Justus
said.
"I
think
by
Labor
Day,
we
should
have
a
good
indication
of
how
many
students
we'll
have."
First
day
enrollment
figures
counted
3,429
students
in
school,
but
those
numbers
declined
during
the
week,
with
3,426
on
Tuesday;
3,414
on
Wednesday;
3,370
on
Thursday;
and
3,361
on
Friday.
By
Monday,
however,
they
had
set
a
new
high
for
the
current
academic
year
at
3,435.
"We
did
the
budget
this
year
on
3,430
students,
so
based
on
enrollment
numbers
on
Monday,
we
had
five
more
students
than
anticipated,"
Justus
said.
"We'd
like
to
have
as
many
as
3,460
by
the
time
we
get
to
March
31,
because
that
gives
a
little
bit
of
a
cushion."
He
referred
to
the
fact
that
state
funding
amounts
for
standards
of
quality
funding,
which
are
based
on
enrollment,
are
calculated
using
the
March
31
numbers.
SOQ
monies
are
sent
back
to
the
localities
at
the
rate
of
approximately
$4,200
each
student,
Justus
said.
If
those
students
are
special
education
students,
the
dollar
amounts
are
higher.
"So
far
our
projections
have
worked
out
pretty
well,"
Justus
said.
One
of
the
big
surprises,
he
said
was
in
kindergarten
enrollment.
A
total
of
280
students
were
listed
in
Monday
enrollment
figures.
Pre-registration
in
the
spring
resulted
in
162
students
being
projected
as
kindergarten
students.
"Kindergarten
is
the
third
largest
class
of
students
and
that
comes
as
a
very
pleasant
surprise,"
Justus
said.
Riverview
Elementary-Middle
School--with
898
students
on
Monday
--
has
the
largest
elementary
enrollment,
while
Russell
Prater
Elementary
--
with
100
students
--
has
the
smallest
elementary
populations.
The
largest
high
school
population
is
at
Grundy
High
School
with
486
students,
while
Council
High
School
is
the
smallest
high
school
with
178
students.
Other
statistics
show
the
third
grade
class
has
the
smallest
number
of
enrollees
countywide
at
239,
with
the
eighth
grade
class
having
the
largest
enrollment
at
311.
Total
class
enrollments
countywide
show
280
kindergarten
students;
247,
first
grade;
260,
second
grade;
239,
third
grade;
263,
fourth
grade;
251,
fifth
grade;
280,
sixth
grade;
244,
seventh
grade;
311,
eighth
grade;
297,
ninth
grade;
254,
tenth
grade;
270,
eleventh
grade;
and
239,
twelfth
grade.
"We've
had
a
smooth
opening
week,"
Justus
said.
Enrollment
losses,
overall,
he
said,
seem
to
be
continuing
a
trend
to
level
off.
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