A Smooth Start to a New School Year
by Darrel Stufflebeam
September 06, 2008
It’s hard to believe that almost a month of school has gone by. Despite the challenges of student growth at St. George Elementary School and not being able to begin the school year in the new building, we’ve had a smooth and productive overall start to the year.
Enrollment at SGES continues to soar. At this point, we have about 330 students at SGES, which is about 30 students more than we had last year at this time. The previous year’s growth was about the same. It’s rewarding and exciting to know that our district continues to grow and our facility improvements have been very worthwhile. Enrollment at RCJSHS is steady at about 370 students and enrollment at WES has dropped about 15 students to 164. Please keep in mind that enrollment constantly changes. The official count date for enrollment is September 20th.
As I’ve been saying over the past few years, we will need to continue our examination of facility needs—especially in light of growth at SGES. We are currently studying how and when that growth will affect RCJSHS. Even though we’ve had to hire four new teachers at SGES since construction began, we still have spare classrooms available. If and when more space is needed there, our preplanned additions (five or six additional classrooms in each wing) will serve us well.
The new SGES will be completely ready for us soon and we will announce the move-in date after the BOE meets this week. The plans for that move will be communicated directly to parents and will also be publicized for our patrons. Those plans will include an Open House for the public.
Over the next few weeks, the finishing touches to the site will take place. Our high school Horticulture classes have helped plant about 50 trees on the site and we will be planting grass next week. We’re also having some landscaping done but that will be a work in progress as our students and faculty use their green thumbs to add their personal touches.
I want to offer a deep and heartfelt thank you to all of the patrons who helped us install the two playgrounds at the new SGES. There were too many people involved to thank individually. They know who they are but they may not fully understand how much their selflessness and sacrifices are appreciated. They created two terrific playgrounds that will last for many years to come and, in the process, helped save the taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.
On a personal note, the greatest pleasure during that work was meeting so many great people and making new friends. It’s comforting to know we have so many active, helpful patrons willing to donate their time and labor for the common good of the school district’s students.
