Valley's numbers decrease

Some districts see surprising increases, however

Total public school enrollment is down slightly from last year in Flathead County, according to unofficial early enrollment numbers.

Official fall enrollment isn't calculated until Monday, and the numbers don't have be reported to the county superintendent's office until Friday. But according to numbers given to the Inter Lake at the end of September, Flathead public schools' total enrollment is down about 0.5 percent.

Most of that decline occurred at the high school level, which saw a decrease of 101 students from fall 2007. The elementary schools gained a total of 26 students.

Enrollment declined at eight elementary districts. Six districts saw increased numbers and five saw numbers that mirrored last fall's figures.

Total high school enrollment at the end of September was 4,306 students, down 2 percent from 4,407 in October 2007.

Enrollments at Bigfork and Columbia Falls high schools are at their lowest points since 1997, when Bigfork had 404 students and Columbia Falls had 945. This year's enrollments are 313 and 825, respectively. With 552 students this fall, Whitefish High School's enrollment is the lowest it has been since 1991.

Kalispell's high school district saw increased enrollment this fall, with 2,616 students.

Flathead High School had 1,429 students enrolled at the end of September. Glacier High School had 1,187 students. Total enrollment at both schools last fall was 2,550.

That isn't as much growth as district officials anticipated, Superintendent Darlene Schottle said, but they are pleased the high schools have grown.

An even pleasanter surprise, she said, was the elementary district's enrollment increase. Total enrollment in Kalispell's five elementary schools is 2,804 this year, up from last fall's 2,678 students.

"We were a little surprised that the elementary district jumped as much as it did," Schottle said.

Last year, Kalispell elementary schools experienced a 7 percent enrollment increase, spurred largely by the implementation of full-day kindergarten programs at all five schools.

"We thought that the numbers would have peaked last year," Schottle said. "But it seems to be a trend, not a one-year bubble."

While the district is glad to welcome more students, the enrollment increase does present challenges. Elementary schools are so full that not all students can get into their neighborhood schools. While the district tries to keep children in the schools closest to their homes, it isn't always possible, Schottle said.

"Peterson and Edgerton seem to have the most growth," she said. "They struggle to keep neighborhood students in these schools."

Those who can't attend their neighborhood schools are bused to the next-closest school with available space. The district does its best to keep neighborhood kids together, Schottle said; if several students who are supposed to go to Peterson must go to another school, the district tries to send them all to one school, "not bus them all over town."

District officials and the school board will meet during the school year to discuss how to handle the elementary schools' growth, Schottle said. Options include possibly expanding existing schools or building a new elementary school.

"There are challenging issues out there that we're going to have to face soon," she said.

Kalispell Middle School has grown as well, Schottle said. When the former eighth- and ninth-grade junior high opened as a middle school last fall with a brand new sixth-grade wing, school officials anticipated about 900 students and three extra classrooms for use as needed.

This year, enrollment is closing in on 1,000 students, and there is one extra classroom available, Schottle said.

With more than 400 students enrolled, West Valley School has filled every available classroom this fall, Superintendent Todd Fiske said.

"We were down to start with in the middle of the summer," he said. "We've just been slowly rising once again."

Enrollment is up nearly 3 percent at West Valley from fall 2007. The district has been growing steadily since at least the early 1990s.

"I think it just speaks to West Valley being a budget-type of area, where new families can still come and afford a home," Fiske said.

Not every home in West Valley is necessarily affordable, he added, but there are more relatively low-cost options for couples with school-age children.

As available classroom space has dwindled at West Valley, so has the district's capacity for accepting out-of-district students.

"This is the first time in the nine years I've been here that we've had to say no to out-of-district students," Fiske said.

He had to refuse admission to four or five out-of-district kids, he said, because there simply was no place to put them.

Columbia Falls High School didn't receive as many incoming out-of-district freshmen as it has in the past, which may have contributed to the school's low enrollment.

"The high school was down," Superintendent Michael Nicosia said. "That really wasn't predicted. Usually we get a bump of about 25 students between eighth grade and ninth grade."

Those students typically come from the West Glacier and Deer Park school districts, both of which had low enrollments this year. With 22 students this fall, West Glacier's enrollment is the lowest it has ever been.

Deer Park's enrollment dipped sharply last year, from 107 students to 88. This year, enrollment hasn't changed.

"At least we're maintaining the numbers we had last year," Principal Dennis Haverlandt said. "It's a good sign that we're not decreasing in numbers."

Deer Park's low enrollment occurred because a large class graduated two years ago, he said.

"We graduated a whopping 16 - large for us - and they were replaced by a class of five," he said.

This year there are 13 kindergarten students, another large class for Deer Park. Other classes are small, however. The school combined its third and fourth grades this fall because there were so few students, Haverlandt said.

Unlike West Valley, where housing developments have continued to be built despite the slowing economy, "development out here has really been lacking," he said.

"There is one small development across the street that does not have any students, any kids that go to our school," Haverlandt said. "The price of housing is restrictive for young couples with children that would be school-age."

Housing prices and other economic factors may have impacted several districts across the valley, Bigfork Superintendent Russell Kinzer said.

"Enrollment is usually driven by socioeconomic factors," he said, listing housing, jobs and local economies as examples. "That's been my experience, regardless of where I've been."

Housing costs are relatively high in Bigfork, he said, and most of the valley's job opportunities are in Kalispell. With the high cost of fuel, some families may have decided to live closer to their workplaces.

Bigfork High School's enrollment was down 7 percent this fall. Elementary enrollment is down 4 percent. Numbers in both schools have declined for the last few years.

That may start to change as early as next fall, according to projections Kinzer has made using historical enrollment numbers and figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The numbers suggest elementary enrollment will begin to increase in fall 2009, Kinzer said. A few years later, high school enrollment is expected to climb.

"Around 2012, there will be an increase again because the number of school-age children attending high school is going to increase in the Flathead," he said.

Those predictions are, of course, subject to the same socioeconomic factors that are affecting current enrollments, Kinzer added.

"Initial enrollment projections … are always subject to a wide range of variables that cannot be projected," he said.