School district enrollments mostly see slight increase

DAVENPORT–The past three years have impacted classes, sports and many school activities.

The start of a new school year brings back a sense of normalcy.

Mask mandates are in the past and classes resume, but have the past three years hurt enrollment numbers? Or increased them? In Lincoln County, it varies by area.

Davenport has seen a slight increase in the last three years. In 2020, they had 549 enrolled; in 2021, 587 and the first-day numbers for 2022 are 609.

Superintendent Chad Prewitt gives credit to families doing their research and choosing a rural area to live in for educational reasons.

"We've had families research our school a lot," Prewitt said. "There is an academic achievement here. We have high test scores; parents look for that."

Prewitt said the School District enrollment has steadily increased since he moved here 11 years ago.

He said people often look for something different in rural areas when moving from a more extensive place.

"People have said they are looking for something different," Prewitt said. "You don't get the same experiences in the city compared to rural education."

Reardan also saw an increase in enrollments and had 752 first-day numbers for 2022, up from 722 in 2021 and 677 in 2020.

“We’re up slightly over our projection,” superintendent Eric Sobotta said. “We’re not going to see a steep increase in enrollment.”

Christian Heritage has stayed steady after a large jump from 2020 to 2021.

Their first-day numbers were 123 for 2022, 125 in 2021 and 68 in 2020.

Principal Marty Klein said their numbers grew slightly and have stayed steady since last year.

"We are down one or two kids from last year," Klein said. "Numbers have stayed steady."

The Odessa School District has seen enrollment increases and decreases over three years.

Their 2022 first-day numbers were 222, up from 2021 with 203, but still down from 239 for 2020 enrollments.

Principal Jamie Nelson contributes in part to families moving away to decline.

"I feel like our enrollment was up and then it was down," Nelson said. “We’ve had a couple of prominent families move away."

Another attribution to a falling enrollment statistic is the lack of job opportunities.

"Since I've been here, lack of job opportunities is why people move," Nelson said. "Someone who might work in Moses. That's an almost 40-minute drive."

Nelson said that with gas prices soaring this year, it got harder for families to travel to work.

Harrington School District had a 15% increase from 2021 (135) with 150 first-day enrollments, which is still up from 2020 when they had 145 first-day students.

Superintendent John Cordell is new to the area but was able to share some insight.

"I've heard many of our new enrollments are people coming back," Cordell said. “So, we're happy to have that 15% increase."

Cordell said having a few more students could be helpful to the budget.