North Scott starts planning for future
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By Sheena Dooley | Saturday, March 22, 2008 |
Schools in North Scott will make slight gains in the number of students they serve as new families move into the district in the next 12 years, according to a new demographic study.
The study by the Bi-State Regional Commission showed North Scott School District enrolling about 250 new students by 2020, when it is expected to serve an estimated 3,320 children.
Although the district as a whole has room for the new students, the growth will push at least one school over capacity, it said. Enrollment at Alan Shepard Elementary School is projected to reach 388, which is 78 more students than it’s designed to hold, it showed.
The district’s four other elementary schools are each expected to gain a handful of new children, with numbers ranging from one to 19 additional students.
“Just from my visual observation of what’s currently happening in the district and the housing developments going up, I anticipated seeing much higher enrollment projections,” said Tim Dose, North Scott superintendent. “This report says we aren’t going to blow the top off.”
School board members requested the study last year after enrollment spiked at Ed White Elementary School, causing the district to move the school’s sixth-graders into North Scott Junior High School as a temporary solution.
Leaders in North Scott will use the study’s findings in deciding not only how to resolve capacity issues at Ed White and Alan Shepard but how to handle enrollment changes across the district in the next dozen years.
Also, the study didn’t include the potential effect preschool could have on the capacity at elementary schools. The state provided districts with dollars to fund preschool programs for the first time this school year. North Scott contracts with private providers in the community to educate the students in their facilities. However, that could change as the program expands with funding increases, Dose said.
“We are going to take this information and see if we need to do anything,” said Rex Masterson, board president. “We haven’t even discussed it yet.”
Dose said the district is planning to hold three public meetings in April to share the results with community members and gain their thoughts about the future. The board will set the dates for them Monday during its regular meeting.
The plans could include:
* Building onto the junior high and making it a building for grades 6-8. It currently holds seventh- and eighth-grade students.
* Adding onto Ed White to make space for its sixth-grade students and expanding Alan Shepard to make room for the 67 students it is expected to gain.
* Changing school attendance boundaries.
* Doing nothing and monitoring the situation.
“There are a lot of different things we could do,” Dose said. “What I’m asking the community to do is consider all of the information and help us come up with the best solution possible. …We will start with these public forums and get the conversation going. And then we will make some decisions about how to proceed at a future date.”
Sheena Dooley can be contacted at (563) 383-2363 or sdooley@qctimes.com.
Enrollment projections for elementary schools in North Scott
Neil Armstrong
2006 enrollment: 285
2020 projected enrollment: 296
Capacity: 310
John Glenn
2006 enrollment: 259
2020 projected enrollment: 278
Capacity: 310
Virgil Grissom
2006 enrollment: 231
2020 projected enrollment: 234
Capacity: 310
Alan Shepard
2006 enrollment: 321
2020 projected enrollment: 388
Capacity: 310
Ed White
2006 enrollment: 446
2020 projected enrollment: 447
Capacity: 465
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