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Enrollment Up At York, WJCC SchoolsBy Amber Lester Wednesday, September 22, 2010 Preliminary numbers show enrollment has increased at both York County and Williamsburg-James City County schools. Public school systems conduct several enrollment counts a year, starting with a preliminary count 10 days after the start of the school year. An official enrollment count is conducted Sept. 30. York County’s enrollment after 10 days was 12,517 — an increase of 49 students over the previous school year’s enrollment. But while the enrollment increased, it fell short of the estimated increase of 12,600. Williamsburg-James City County’s enrollment at the 10-day count was 10,538, a rise of 30 students over the enrollment in the 2009-2010 school year. WJCC also fell short of its projection, which was an enrollment of 10,720. At a work session Tuesday night, Acting Superintendent Scott Burckbuchler said much of the discrepancy was due to fewer students entering Kindergarten than expected. Last year, the division projected 791 students would start Kindergarten, but 678 were enrolled as of Tuesday. Burckbuchler said the division uses birth records to make its projections, but it was hard to say why the amount of Kindergartners fell short; he surmised many families were moving in and out of the system due to the downturn in the economy. Enrollment projections were closer to reality for the other grade levels, but elementary staffing was still a concern, particularly with the addition of J. Blaine Blayton Elementary School this year. Senior Director for Human Resources Jon Andre told the WJCC board on Tuesday that in most cases, class sizes are at or below the target ratio for students to teachers. At Rawls Byrd Elementary, however, a teacher will be added to the first grade, and internal switches have already been made to alleviate large classes in the third grade at Matoaka. School Board Member Ruth Larson said she’d received many calls from parents who were upset about larger class sizes at the elementary level. “I would urge people to be engaged in the budget process,” she said, explaining that the board increased class sizes last year in order to avoid layoffs.
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Comments
Quoting New Schools R Smart:
To quote "New Schools R Smart" - Bob R is wrong. (Quite wrong in fact).
We're better off with the new schools. We need them now and of course even more so in the future. Bob R would have us pay more in the future - how utterly silly.
Bob R is wrong.