Obtaining an accurate accounting of the number of students in a school system early in the academic year is important. It provides information that is vital to administrators who often struggle to match sometimes limited resources to the needs and demands of schools and students within the system.
Sometimes, though, events can make it difficult to get an accurate count of students. That appears to be the case year in Hamilton County. Superintendent Rick Smith, for one, doesn’t think the 20th day census taken last Wednesday offers a precise portrait of enrollment. He’s probably correct.
By Wednesday’s count, there are now 42,236 students in the system – 20,840 elementary students, 9,467 middle school students and 11,929 high school students. That’s an increase of 209 elementary and 267 middle school students and a decline of 190 high school students as compared to the 20th day of school in 2010. Smith believes the overall count is too low.
He’s got sound reasons for that belief. The tally was taken two days after record rains in the area, a day after schools were closed because of weather-related problems and on a day when the start of school was delayed. Moreover, many county residents were without power Wednesday and it is quite likely that some parents were unable to get their kids to school. Still, the 20-day numbers provide useful information about a system in transition.
The numbers confirm what Smith and system administrators predicted before the school term. They said the system would add about 500 students. Though Wednesday’s numbers don’t quite match that prediction, it is possible, if not likely, that another count taken in more normal circumstances would confirm growth in that range. The 20th day totals also confirm some predicted demographic trends that will continue to test the system’s ability to match student populations to space available at some schools.