Higher enrollment will bump funds

By Kathy Thomson

With a significant impact expected in state funding, Albany Independent School District enrollment totals for the beginning of the new school year are now sitting at 525, 39 more than last August and 14 more than at the end of the 2018-2019 school year.

Several students have registered in the days since classes began last week, but as of press time Tuesday, the official enrollment numbers were 283 at Nancy Smith Elementary School, 87 at the junior high, and 152 at Albany High, for a total of 522.

First Day Count

“Comparing the actual first day numbers this year to the first day of school last year, we were up from 483 to 522, an increase of 39 students,” said superintendent Jonathan Scott. “Comparing the first day of school this year to the last day of school in the spring, we were up from 509 to 522, an increase of 13 students.”

School funding is positively impacted by student enrollment, according to the superintendent. 

“The increase in students equates to an increase in funding,” Scott said. “Fourteen more students means approximately $100,000 more in state money.” 

The total number registered by the start of the 2019-2020 term was also greater than the 509 on the rolls at the onset of 2017, and the 518 students enrolled at the comparable time in 2016. There were 505 enrollees at the beginning of the fall semester in 2015, 481 in 2014, and 489 in 2013.

“We are glad to have our teachers and students back on campus for a new school year,” said Scott. “I’m excited to see what this year will bring.”

Elementary School

The 32 kindergartners at NSES will be divided into three classes again this year. 

Sixteen children are enrolled in Head Start and 15 qualified for pre-K.

Other class totals at the elementary campus include 42 in first grade, 39 in second, 29 third graders, and 33 in fourth grade. Thirty-nine students are in fifth grade and 38 are in sixth. 

The 283 figure at NSES this year is up by 11 from last year, where 272 began the year.

There were 278 students at NSES in 2017 and 293 at the elementary campus in 2016.

Secondary Campus

Tabulations at the secondary level showed 87 students registered for junior high classes, an increase of 14 from last year’s 73. 

Forty-five of those are in seventh grade, and 42 in eighth, with both classes increasing in size from 2018.

There were 10 more students registered at the high school this week than the 2018 first day totals, and a few less than the 156 on campus in 2017.

Attending AHS this year are 44 seniors, 38 juniors, 36 sophomores, and 34 freshmen.

The secondary campus saw an overall increase of 20 students, from 219 in 2018 to 239 this year. Two years ago the junior/senior high started with 228 scholars, and three years ago the tally at AJ/SH was 225.

“Most of the change is due to a small graduating class last May and having a fairly large seventh grade class entering this year,” said secondary principal Edward Morales.

Day One

Administrators reported that things went well with very few problems during the typically busy first day.

“We are really off to a good start,” said Morales. “Other than schedule changes, the students seem to already be in mid-season form. And they have caught on pretty quickly to our new phone policy.”

New Phone Policy

Students are allowed to bring cell phones to the secondary campus, but they must be turned off and put up during class.

Every classroom has a cell phone holder near the door. Students are required to place their phones in the holder during all periods.  

If a student is caught using a phone during class time, it will be taken up and a $15 fine will have to be paid in order to get it back, according to Morales.

Extracurricular Rules 

The new school year just began last week, but fall athletics are already underway at the high school, and Morales reminded all students attending games to abide by district policy which, along with other regulations, prohibits students from playing under the bleachers or freely roaming the grounds during the games.

“We are getting into a groove with extra-curricular activities at the gym, and we need to do that at the football field starting this week,” Morales said. “All students not participating need to be in the stands.”