In his principal’s report during Monday’s school board meeting, Creston Community High School Principal Bill Messerole touched on the decline in enrollment at the school asking, “Where are they?”
Districts across Iowa submitted their annual certified enrollment numbers to the state between Oct. 1 to 15. The certified enrollment is an annual report of enrolled resident students used for the Iowa School Financial Formula calculation. This formula plays a role in how much funding is disbursed per pupil to each district.
Superintendent Deron Stender said Creston Schools is down approximately 61 students, which equates to more than $400,000.
“It’s kind of the perfect storm,” Stender said of the reasons for the decline.
“One of the factors in that is we have smaller incoming class sizes,” Stender said. “We’re graduating 130 students and bringing in 100. There’s 30 kids gone right there. That’s a section”
Stender said Creston has been averaging incoming kindergarten classes of 80 to 100 students with 130 seniors graduating.
“We’re going to be losing 30 to 40 kids just off enrollment,” he said.
Another factor in the decline in enrollment was Orient-Macksburg Community School board’s decision to sever ties with Creston Community Schools and begin a sharing agreement with Nodaway Valley Schools, which started at the beginning of this academic year. O-M and Creston had a sharing agreement for more than 30 years.
“It maybe been about a dozen students, but that’s part of the 61,” said Stender.
With an ongoing decline in enrollment projected for the next four to five years, Stender said the board will work on contingency plans to make the best use of resources and staff.
The board is waiting for the state to finalize Creston’s enrollment count, which is expected to be shared in a report during the next board meeting 6 p.m. Nov. 22 in the district boardroom, 801 N. Elm Street, Creston, unless otherwise noted.
For more info about Creston Community School’s board, minutes and recorded meetings, visit www.crestonschools.org/school-board-1.