Waitsburg School Numbers Drop

WAITSBURG - At the Waitsburg School Board's October meeting, Super- intendent Carol Clarke re- ported the district had 13.1 students over the 270 enroll- ment the district budgeted for 2013/14.

At November's meeting Clarke reported that number had taken a significant drop, with 8.5 full time equiva- lent students having left the district. Clarke is also aware of another family that is planning to leave before Christmas.

Clarke noted that afford- able housing and employ- ment opportunities were the reasons given for several families moving from the area. Each family had mul- tiple children enrolled and seven of those were elemen- tary students.

" I t ' s a lways h arder when we lose elementary students because they would potentially have re- mained with us longer," said Clarke.

The high school did receive one transfer student from Dayton this month and Running Start enrollment saw a small decline. Cur- rent district-wide enrollment numbers are 276.2.

"We're still above bud- get," Clarke said, "but a loss of so many students this early in the year is a concerning trend."