Wilton, Durant enrollment trending in different directions

Wilton enrollment up 21 students Durant enrollment down 34 students

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Wilton enrollment up 21 students

At the Wilton school board meeting Oct. 14, Superintendent Joe Burnett talked a lot about school enrollment with members of the board. The school district’s official count day was Oct. 1. Wilton’s enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year is 900, up 21 students from last year when enrollment was 879.

The enrollment numbers include students who have opted to learn at home via the EdGenuity program due to COVID-19.

Burnett gave the board a handout charting Wilton’s enrollment numbers from FY2014 to today (seen at right), plus projections for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Projected enrollment by 2024 is 916 — but Burnett said that was estimating incoming kindergarten numbers each year based on averages from the last five incoming kindergarten classes.

Burnett told the board that Wilton has far more students open-enrolling in than going out, including around 60 students coming in from the Muscatine School District.

He also mentioned that elementary numbers “are swelling,” which shows district growth. Two of Wilton’s three smallest class sizes are in the high school, meaning that enrollment numbers should certainly continue rising.

The average number of students in grades K-6 is 71, while the average in grades 7-12 is 67.

Administrative reports

Elementary Principal Denise Austin provided a chart to show FAST reading scores among students in grades K-6. All are down to start the year vs. last year. “Kids missing school from March on is huge. It’s just shocking,” said Austin, noting the 5-month layoff due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said that group interventions would occur in different grades with worse scores in order to rebound.

Both Austin and Jr./Sr. High Principal Marc Snavely said that parent-teacher conferences were held virtually due to the pandemic. The state has also modified its contact tracing rules based on students wearing two-ply masks properly, meaning that if students are wearing the right face covering properly, he or she may not have to go home due to a COVID-19 case in the pod.

With high school marching band events being canceled, Snavely said the Wilton marching band held a celebration Oct. 3, where students gave a brief performance. They have also been playing at home football games.

Wilton’s FFA Ag & Field Day was held Sept. 18. Wilton ag teacher and FFA adviser Gary Bruns said that the event had the largest turnout in years.

On his athletic report to the board, Athletic Director Ryan Hetzler noted that Dyersville Beckman and Maquoketa plan to apply to the River Valley Conference within the next two years. The conference currently has 14 teams, split into two divisions.

Miscellany

In other action, the board:

* Reviewed policies 100; 101; 102; 103; 103.E1; 103.E2; 103.E3; 103.E4; 103.R1; 104; 105; 105.R1; 106.E1; 106.E2; 106.E3; and 106.R1.

* Held the first reading of policy 106 — anti-bullying/harassment.

* Held the second reading of policies 905.1 and 906.1.

* Approved an early graduation request from WHS senior Reece Vela.

* Approved a modified retirement date for district business manager and SBO Staci Owens-Kirkman. Originally scheduled to retire Dec. 31, her retirement date was switched to March 31, 2021.

* Approved a request for allowable growth and supplemental aid for negative special education balance in the amount of $122,226.27.

Board members Jeremy Lies, Linda Duncan, Tara Oien and Tim Barrett were present. Member Rob Metzger was absent. All action taken was unanimous. The next work session is Oct. 28 at 5 p.m.. The next regular meeting is Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m.

Durant enrollment down 34 students

At the Durant school board meeting Oct. 12, Superintendent Joe Burnett talked a lot about school enrollment with members of the board. The school district’s official count day was Oct. 1. Durant’s enrollment for the 2020-2021 school year is 585, down 34 students from last year when enrollment was 619.

The enrollment numbers include students who have opted to learn at home via the EdGenuity program due to COVID-19.

Burnett gave the board a handout charting Durant’s enrollment numbers (seen at right) from FY2014 to today, plus projections for 2022, 2023 and 2024. Projected enrollment by 2024 is 528 — but Burnett said that was estimating incoming kindergarten numbers each year based on averages from the last five incoming kindergarten classes.

Therein lies the problem. Durant’s two smallest classes are the last two incoming kindergarten classes. Last year’s kindergarten class was 32 students while this year’s took a steep drop to 23.

“The challenge we face is our biggest classes are in grades 7-12. In kindergarten through sixth grade, we only have one class above 50,” said Burnett. “If we hold pat, you can see what our enrollment does. The gap is our graduating class vs. incoming kindergarten.”

In a perfect world, according to Burnett, a district wants its K-6 numbers to be larger than the 7-12 numbers. “That means you’re growing,” he said.

There are positives within Durant’s enrollment numbers. There are more students open-enrolling into Durant than enrolling out. Durant has 76 students enrolling into the district from the outside, vs. 42 that enroll out. Most of the incoming students (24) are from the Muscatine School District. Durant gets 20 Bennett students, 13 from Davenport and 12 from Wilton. Yet there are 25 students enrolling out to Wilton.

Miscellany

In other action, the board:

* Approved the resignation of Julie Keppy, eighth grade volleyball coach.

* Approved the job description for the human resources director position.

* Reviewed policies 414.1; 414.2; 414.3 with modifications; 414.3E1; 414.3E2; 414.3R1 with modifications; and 414.3R2 with modifications.

* Held the second readings of policies 412.2; 412.4; 413.1; and 413.5.

* Elementary Principal Rebecca Stineman and Jr./Sr. High School Principal Joel Diederichs mentioned that parent-teacher conferences were happening virtually due to the pandemic. Students needing to quarantine due to COVID-19 are up, and Diederichs noted that teachers are using Google Meet for online sessions for students forced to stay home from school.

* Approved transferring $2,000 from the management fund to the general fund to cover the insurance deductible on storm damaged cafeteria windows.

* Approved a request for allowable growth and supplemental aid for negative special education balance in the amount of $63,996.24.

* Approved the hiring of Mike Petersen, junior high girls’ basketball coach, at a salary of $3,392.90.

Board members Tara Lindsay, Katy Oberlander, Julie Rivera, Travis Bullard and Carla Whitlock were present. All action taken was unanimous. The next work session is Oct. 26 at 5:30 p.m. The next regular board meeting is Nov. 9 at 5:30 p.m.

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