Duneland School officials said they expect numbers “will fluctuate” between
now and Sept. 13, the day when the state determines the schools’ average
daily membership (ADM), but Wednesday’s first day student head count for the
entire school corporation was 5,851.
That number is down from last year’s back-to-school count of 5,939, as well
as previous years 2011 (5,934) and 2010 (5,871).
Chesterton High School saw more than 2,000 students in 2012 but this year’s
figure slipped to 1,959.
School Superintendent Dave Pruis said there were 95 to 100 students who are
registered at the high school who “didn’t show up for whatever reason”
Wednesday, but the number typically increases after the first week. Building
administrators will begin making calls to check on registered students who
haven’t come to class, he said.
The schools have not yet been able to determine why there is a decrease,
Pruis said, but the numbers “are what they are.”
Discovery Charter School earlier this week reported an increase in its first
day figure this year of more than 40 students. Duneland School officials in
the past have cited the opening of the charter school as a reason for
subsiding Duneland numbers.
Pruis noted the number of kindergarten students is up this year from the
2012 count, with 377 tallied Wednesday. Strong numbers were also present in
the district numbers for 4th grade with 447 students and 2nd Grade with 408
students.
Meanwhile, new assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction Jim
Goetz said the first week back has been a great start to the 2013-14 school
years with no major problems.
“Things went really well. Nobody was out wandering the hallways which often
happens on the first day. The teachers were teaching. Things were happening,
and the buses got the kids home safely,” said Goetz.
Goetz reported counts for each individual school as follows:
CHS: 1,959 students
9th - 499
10th - 479
11th - 485
12th - 496
CMS: 1,007 students
7th - 506
8th - 501
Westchester Intermediate: 519 students
5th - 249
6th - 270
Liberty Intermediate: 365 students
5th - 181
6th - 184
Liberty Elementary: 546 students
Kindergarten - 112
1st - 84
2nd - 131
3rd - 100
4th - 119
Yost Elementary: 400 students
Kindergarten - 77
1st - 70
2nd - 83
3rd - 80
4th - 90
Bailey Elementary: 420 students
Kindergarten - 73
1st - 76
2nd - 85
3rd - 92
4th - 94
Brummitt Elementary: 342 students
Kindergarten - 66
1st - 63
2nd - 66
3rd - 74
4th - 73
Jackson Elementary: 293 students
Kindergarten - 49
1st - 74
2nd - 43
3rd - 56
4th -71
District Totals for Elementary and Intermediate:
Kindergarten - 377
1st - 367
2nd - 408
3rd - 402
4th - 447
5th - 430
6th - 454