ENROLLMENTS UP IN MOST COUNTY SCHOOLS; CAPE HAS 22 MORE STUDENTS THAN JACKSON

Although first-day enrollment figures indicated Jackson schools had surpassed Cape Girardeau's, enrollment totals submitted Wednesday show that Cape Girardeau public schools still have the most students in the county.

Nearly every school in the area experienced enrollment increases this year. Cape Girardeau School District, which had been in a two-year decline, posted a total enrollment of 4,302 students. That is only 22 students more than in Jackson School District, which had a total enrollment of 4,280.

All Missouri schools are required to submit benchmark enrollment figures to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Core Data office on the last Wednesday in September and in January. The figures are used to calculate funding received from several state programs, including one that provides schools with money to buy textbooks.

"I really thought they'd be larger," said Cape Girardeau superintendent, Dr. Dan Tallent. "Jackson's enrollment has been going up in the past few years, and ours had been in a decline. I think we've bottomed out a little now, and hopefully we'll begin to see a lot of growth."

Area superintendents said growth was most evident in their kindergarten and second-grade classes. The assistant superintendent at Jackson, Dr. Terry Gibbons, said Jackson has broken several kindergarten records in the past five years, including this year when 346 kindergartners were enrolled in the district.

Enrollment in Delta and Oak Ridge school districts declined slightly this year. Cheri Fuemmeler, Oak Ridge superintendent, said the district had a larger than usual number of kindergarten students, but the class didn't quite balance the big group of graduates that graduated from the district last spring. Delta superintendent Tom Allen said swells and depressions are often noticeable in enrollment percentages for smaller districts.

"We always have some coming and going throughout the year," said Allen. "The smaller the school, I think you'll see a noticeable percentage change every few years, whereas in larger districts they may have larger numbers but smaller percentage changes."

Gibbons and Tallent said local district's were seeing growth as a result of increased construction and new industries in Cape Girardeau County. There should continue to be a growth trend as industries like Procter and Gamble expand, they said.

"I don't think we have seen the effects of Procter and Gamble yet," said Gibbons. "I think it's probably just a continuing trend of community, schools and overall area growth."