By Kathy Chaffin
kchaffin@salisburypost.com
First-day enrollment in the Rowan-Salisbury School System Tuesday was down 195 students from the first day last year.
Total first-day enrollment in the system was 20,037 as compared to 20,232 last year. “It’s not unusual for first-day numbers to be low,” said Rita Foil, public information officer for the system. “And then they pick up each day …
“A lot of times, these numbers will change right up until Labor Day.”
Total second-day enrollment on Wednesday, for example, was up 164 from Tuesday, which reduced the overall decrease from total enrollment last year to 31.
Foil said enrollment is different from attendance in that a student who enrolled on Tuesday and missed Wednesday was still included in the second-day enrollment.
The N.C. Department of Public Instruction bases its per-student allotments to school systems on their 20-day enrollment figures.
Enrollment was down at 13 of the Rowan-Salisbury School System’s 20 elementary schools, which was not a surprise to school officials. Foil said enrollment was expected to be down due to the deadline for students entering kindergarten being moved up from Oct. 15 to Aug. 31, thereby reducing the number of children who could start school this year.
First-day enrollment was also down at three of the system’s seven middle schools and three of its eight high schools, including Early College.
The school with the greatest drop in first-day enrollment was Hanford-Dole Elementary with 80, followed by Knollwood Elementary with 65, Landis Elementary with 60, East Rowan High with 59 and Salisbury High with 46.
Other schools with decreases in first-day enrollment were as follows: Isenberg Elementary with 45 less students than the first day last year; China Grove Elementary with 42; Hurley Elementary with 39; Overton Elementary with 35; West Middle with 33; North High with 28; Bostian Elementary with 24; North Middle with 23; South High with 18; Corriher Lipe with 12; Faith Elementary with 9; Shive Elementary with 6; Granite Quarry Elementary with 3; Morgan Elementary with 3; and Rockwell Elementary with 3.
Schools with the greatest increases in first-day enrollment were as follows: Knox Middle with 70 more students than on the first day last year; Erwin Middle with 68; Early College with 62; Jesse Carson High with 44; and Koontz Elementary with 40.
Other schools with increases in first-day enrollment as compared to the first day last year were as follows: Enochville Elementary with 39; Southeast Middle with 34; Henderson Independent High with 31; China Grove Middle with 16; North Elementary with 11; West High with 7; Mount Ulla with 6; Cleveland with 5; Woodleaf Elementary with 3; and Millbridge Elementary with 2.
In the Kannapolis City Schools, first-day enrollment Tuesday was 4,677, up 106 from 4,571 last year.
“We look for it to go up,” said Superintendent Dr. Jo Anne Byerly. “There will be students registering all this week, and then there will be some who will be coming in next week.”
First-day enrollments by school in the Kannapolis system and how they compared with last year were as follows: Forest Park Elementary, 564, down 67 from last year; Fred L. Wilson Elementary, 282, down 15 from last year; Jackson Park Elementary, 371, down 31 from last year; Shady Brook Elementary, 284, up 31 from last year; Woodrow Wilson Elementary, 365, down 7 from last year; Kannapolis Intermediate, 773, up 15 from last year; Kannapolis Middle, 716, down 17 from last year; and A.L. Brown High, 1322, up 97 from last year.
Foil said the Rowan-Salisbury School System was late getting first-day enrollment totals due to its converting from the Student Information Management System (SIMS) to the N.C. Windows of Information for Student Education (WISE). “There were a lot of glitches in the system that have to be ironed out,” she said.
Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249.