Farmington School District started the new year with an additional 80 students, compared to last year, according to Superintendent Bryan Law.
Prairie Grove was up about 17 students from last year and Lincoln is down by 20 students.
Looking at numbers for the second day of school in 2014 and the second day in 2015, Farmington went from 2,328 last year to 2,408 this year.
"We've had a lot of growth in our secondary schools," Law said, noting new students were still enrolling at the high school last Wednesday.
Only a few years ago, the average size of a grade was 150 students. This average has increased to 180 students per grade and some classes are hovering around 200 students.
Law said principals are keeping an eye on kindergarten and fifth-grade classes. Depending on future growth, the district may have to hire another teacher to accommodate all the students.
One major increase has been the number of students interested in drama classes at the new performing arts building. Already, he said, the district may have to consider adding a new drama classroom to the design plans for its new high school. He said he hopes other programs will have increased interest as the district finalizes plans for a new high school.
Prairie Grove reported some changes in student numbers on the first day of school, compared to last year. Counting actual kids on campus, Prairie Grove had 1,834 students on the first day of classes. This compares to 1,817 on the first day of school last year.
From looking over past years, Superintendent Allen Williams said he suspects Prairie Grove will end up with about 1,885 students for the year. The school had 1,860 in May and Williams said he thought Prairie Grove might hit 1,900 students for 2015-16. But this year's kindergarten class is down by 10-15 children, he said.
"Overall, we're slowly growing," he said.
The first day of school was smooth. Prairie Grove had a few changes. For one, traffic now is one way through campus on Eg Staggs Road during drop-off and pickup times each day. Prairie Grove Elementary School also changed the pickup and drop-off locations for buses and car riders.
"We're still tweaking it at the elementary school but I think things have gone smoothly," Williams said.
Lincoln staff counted 1,168 students on the first day of class last week, compared to about 1,188 in 2014, according to Mary Ann Spears, superintendent. She said many students registered at Lincoln were not at school Monday and she expects enrollment will continue to fluctuate. Schools will turn in their official count for the year on Oct. 1.
Spears said she has a few concerns about the drop in numbers because Lincoln's staff works well with about 1,200 students but added she is not too worried about it.
All three districts started the new year with about 20 new certified staff members. Both Farmington and Prairie Grove School Districts have 20 new teachers and Lincoln has 18, including two new counselors.
Williams said Prairie Grove had multiple resignations, the most he can remember since he's been at Prairie Grove.
Four teachers retired, two teachers took a year's leave of absence for different reasons and the spouses of several teachers accepted jobs elsewhere, precipitating a move out of town, Williams said.
In other instances, staff accepted new jobs. Former baseball coach Mitch Cameron left for a new school and former Assistant Superintendent Vol Woods accepted a new position in Oklahoma. One high school teacher left to join a private firm and other teachers quit to stay at home with children. The district also filled the athletic director's position this year. It had been vacant for a year following the death of athletic director Mike Green.
Lincoln also had teachers retire, move to teach at other districts or move out of town, Spears said. In one instance, she said a counselor has moved to Korea to teach. She said she considered the changes fairly normal for a typical year.
General News on 08/26/2015