Early Enrollment Shows Local Districts Up & Down

         The two Marshall County schools went different ways when looking at their early enrollment numbers this fall. While Britton-Hecla is down some students, Langford Area is up in numbers and enjoying strong enrollment. 
    The first day of classes was Aug. 20 for the Britton-Hecla District and Aug. 21 for Langford Area.
    Langford Area School District reported an unofficial total of 261 students that includes K-12 in Langford and the Newport Colony school. Last year, the official count as listed on the state Department of Education’s website was 247 and 242 the previous year. 
    As the school year begins, LA has 214 students attending school in Langford with 100 in grades K-5, 45 in Middle School (grades 6-8), and 57 in high school. These numbers across the board are higher than last year and LA Superintendent Shad Storley noted there are 17 new students in the district, including two foreign exchange students. 
    There are 47 students in K-8 at Newport Colony, down two from last year.
    Class sizes are as follows for in town: Kindergarten- 21 students; first- 15; second- 9; third- 17; fourth- 20; fifth- 18; sixth- 16; seventh- 15; eighth- 14; ninth- 15; 10th- 15; 11th-17; 12th- 10. 
    “We are feeling great about our numbers,” said Storley. “The kindergarten class came in larger than anticipated and overall we were pleasantly surprised by enrollment.”
    Last spring, 8 seniors graduated from Langford Area which was one of their smallest classes ever. 
    Britton-Hecla looks to have a slight decrease in enrollment this year. Between the in-town school and two colony schools, Superintendent Steve Benson said they are looking at around 465 students. This is down slightly from last year’s official number of 480 as listed on the state’s website. The 2022-2023 enrollment was 476 district wide. 
    As the year begins, there are 168 students in the elementary school (K-5), 99 in middle school (6-8) and 127 in the high school. There are 40 students at the Sunset Colony school and 31 at the Westwood Colony school.
    Class sizes are as follows for in town: Kindergarten- 18 students; first- 29; second- 30; third- 28; fourth- 36; fifth- 27; sixth- 25; seventh- 40; eighth- 34; ninth- 35; 10th- 34; 11th-33; 12th- 25. 
    There were 27 graduating seniors at B-H last spring.
    Regarding the numbers, Superintendent Benson said, “This year, I think we had some families move out of the area for jobs. What we really don’t want to see is big drops,” he added. “That makes the next year hard to budget for.”
    Benson also said he is pleased that they are fully staffed. “Teachers are hard to come by these days.” He is pleased that his staff is flexible, especially as some class sections move from one to two and vice versa. 
    The official enrollment count date for the state is in late September.