Putnam Schools Seeing Steady Enrollment Growth

Putnam County Schools enrollment is seeing good numbers and steadily growing.

Attendance Supervisor Chris Pierce said that they’ve gotten back many of the students who turned to homeschooling because of COVID. He said that in terms of capacity, the only one that is bringing concern is Prescott South Elementary School, which is sitting about at 98 percent.

“That school has the most strict enrollment guidelines that we offer,” Pierce said. “Only students who reside in that zone would be able to enroll in that school, and that’s been the case for several years. That’s a very popular school and a very popular zone.”

Pierce said that the ideal capacity range is about 85 to 90 percent. He said that if they were to reach capacity at the elementary level, before denying enrollment to an in-zone student they would explore options for moving a pre-K classroom.

Pierce said that they’ve seen much success since going through the rezoning plan several years ago. He said that when the plan was first enacted, there were several schools at or above 90 percent capacity and some even at over 100 percent.

Following the school board’s approval of new recommendations for priority students Thursday night, he said the biggest change will be at Algood Elementary School.

“Where any of the currently enrolled students at Algood, if they were to have a sibling that resides outside of the Algood zone, they may request enrollment into Algood for next year,” Pierce said.