The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Kindergarten classes could double
By Aimee Eaton
The Crested Butte Community School will likely see an increase in kindergarten enrollment for the 2017-2018 school year that could result in a need for additional teachers and classes.
“Based on a preliminary count of preschool children and a comprehensive enrollment projection conducted by the High School AP Statistics class, we are projecting a large kindergarten class for next year,” said CBCS Elementary School principal, Sally Hensley. “We anticipate between 60 and 70 students. We will not have confirmed numbers until after kindergarten registration on March 30th and even then, this number will fluctuate through the summer.”
Gunnison Watershed School District Superintendent Doug Tredway said the district is anticipating hiring a few additional teachers in the elementary school to handle the growth.
“This year we had two kindergarten teachers and we are expecting to need four next year,” he said. “As we get closer [to the new school year] we will make adjustments, some of which may happen next August.”
Currently 704 students attend the community school, and since 1997 when the school opened with 302 students, enrollment has more than doubled.
While much of next year’s growth will come from the kindergarten class, secondary grades are also expected to see an increase of approximately 10 new students for an overall growth in the school of about four percent from the 2016-2017 school year, said CBCS secondary school principal, Stephanie Niemi. Total student enrollment is projected to hit 733 students, though that is a soft number.
“It is still quite early,” said Niemi. “We are tracking enrollment monthly and beginning in May and through the summer, will track enrollment weekly.”
The steady increase of the student body since the school’s opening has begun to stress the facilities and staff, and the school and district administration is beginning to look at creative solutions for meeting classroom needs. For the 2017 school year, classrooms that have previously been open during teachers’ planning periods may be put into use, said Niemi.
“We have room in the facility for the growth but keep looking to the future’” added Tredway.
