News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Algood Elementary is projected to be at 92 percent capacity for next school year.
Putnam County Schools Attendance Supervisor Chris Pierce said he ususally likes to see the percentage at 90, but is not concerned about the projections. The number of pre-registered students for the incoming class is actually lower than last year’s.
“Algood is one of our schools that is a big zone with a lot of want to be in that zone or that school,” Pirece said. “It is one of our four schools that we watch for capacity issues yearly.”
The Putnam County School Board approved new zone boundaries last year to help with capacity issues at Algood Elementary, Jere Whitson Elementary, Prescott South Elementary
and Sycamore Elementary. The zoning priority policy is based upon a student’s residential address.
Pierce said not including Pre-K, 698 students in Putnam County registered for kindergarten during this year’s early enrollment period. Around 700 new kindergarten students register every year. Regardless, Putnam County Schools will still monitor the incoming class to ensure they follow state mandated student teacher ratios.
“The school information database we use is called Power School,”Pierce said. “It does a good job projecting were students would go to school. We manually input those numbers based on school of zone or choice. The Power School program helps us map out where students are going and check if we are within reason of school capacity.”
There are three ways a students can attend a school in Putnam County. Students living outside the zone who were enrolled during the previous year may still continue to go to the school, if they have transportation. Students who live in the zone or have a sibling at the school may also register.
