Overton Schools Enrollment Slight Decrease, Clay Slight Increase

Overton County Schools have seen a small decline in enrollment numbers while Clay County’s numbers grew.

Overton’s student body is down by about 50 students. Overton Director of Schools Mark Winningham said a few students have moved to home schooling, but the the decrease is not directly related.

“We may be down just a little bit,” Winningham said. “But, it is not really significant compared to what we have seen in the last few years. Our enrollment has actually been decreasing for the past six or seven years.”

Clay County Director of Schools Matt Eldridge said the school’s enrollment numbers increased by about 50 students.

“We have had a few more kids go to home school, but for the most part, ours are doing the distance learning, the virtual school,” Eldridge said. “We have had a few more do that, but now, we have not had a really big dip in our enrollment.”

Both Winningham and Eldridge said numbers will likely fluctuate as school continues. Overton has just over 3,000 students currently enrolled. Winningham said this year’s enrollment numbers are nothing out of the ordinary.

“I think as we go through the year, depending on how things are affected by COVID and different things like that,” Winningham said. “I think we could see that (Changes In Enrollment) throughout the year.”

Clay County has about 1,100 students in its schools system. Eldridge said about a fifth of the student body is learning virtually.

“We have some that will be returning back to school at the end of the nine week break I believe,” Eldridge said. “They have expressed interest in coming back to school to the building.”