Aurora, Giltner and Hampton show increases, while High Plains reports decline in student numbers
One full month into the new school year enrollment totals are in with the four area districts reporting a combined increase of 28 students.
Giltner Public Schools showed the biggest gain, up 32 students, while Aurora Public Schools had 12 more students enrolled and Hampton Public Schools six more. High Plains reported a decrease in enrollment, down 22 students compared to last year. Here are the latest totals by district as of the end of September, with input from school superintendents.
Aurora
Like many school districts across the state of Nebraska, Aurora Public Schools was impacted by the COVID pandemic, both in the classroom and overall in enrollment.
But, also like every other school district, 4R has battled back and seen only minimal changes for the 2021-22 school year.
“We continue to address learning loss from COVID,” Supt. Jody Phillips said. “Our students have closed the gaps in learning from 2020 quite a bit, but we will continue to see gaps and address them as appropriately during that time.”
Overall enrollment totals have been steady, he added.
“This year our official membership has a slight increase of 12 students,” Phillips reported.
The total number jumped from 1,219 to 1,231 overall.
Most of each class transferred up to the next grade within Aurora, however some classes grew by more than a handful. With only 60 preschoolers at the end of last school year, enrollment totals for Kindergarten this year reached 84 -- a 24-student increase.
In terms of the district’s main goal for this year, Phillips was direct.
“(To) improve student achievement and fiscal responsibility,” he concluded.
Enrollment by grade (as of Oct. 1), with last year’s enrollment in parentheses:
Pre-Kindergarten: 67 (60)
Kindergarten: 84 (84)
First grade: 84 (70)
Second grade: 73 (90)
Third grade: 91 (82)
Fourth grade: 90 (77)
Fifth grade: 78 (94)
Sixth grade: 98 (90)
Seventh grade: 93 (90)
Eighth grade: 91 (94)
Ninth grade: 93 (88)
10th grade: 87 (97)
11th grade: 100 (92)
12th grade: 102 (112)
Hampton
Hampton’s K-12 enrollment for 2021-22 is 167 students, an increase of six from the previous year.
“It is exciting to see the enrollment at Hampton increase for the third year in a row,” noted Hampton Supt. Holly Herzberg. “With the plus-six enrollment for the 21-22 school year, HPS has seen an enrollment increase of 23 students over the last three years.”
Enrollment grew by 11 students a year ago and six the year before that, meaning that HPS has added 23 students over that three-year span.
“Our elementary building is as large as it has been in the last 25+ years at 85 students,” Herzberg added. “We have many young families with PreK-6 grade children choosing to raise their families in our small school setting.”
As for any pandemic impact, Herzberg reported that COVID-19 has had not impacted the number of students enrolled, either this year or last year.
2021-22 enrollment is listed first
Kindergarten: 16 (11)
First grade: 11 (11)
Second grade: 10 (11)
Third grade: 10 (16)
Fourth grade: 17 (10)
Fifth grade: 11 (9)
Sixth grade: 10 (10)
Seventh grade: 12 (11)
Eighth grade: 13 (13)
Ninth grade: 15 (17)
10th grade: 16 (10)
11th grade: 10 (14)
12th grade: 16 (18)