District opens with more than 500 kindergarten students for third year in a row
Moorhead Area Public Schools saw more than 6,000 students in school today, the district’s highest enrollment since the mid 1990s, said Superintendent Lynne Kovash.
The district had 6,259 students in grades K-12 report for school this morning. This is 414 more students than were enrolled last spring and 331 students more than last year’s opening enrollment, surpassing the projected increase of 213 students. The number of students in the district will fluctuate over the next few weeks before stabilizing in October and November, according to historical trends.
Over the past two years the district has added more than 540 students. The most significant increase is in the elementary enrollment. The district added all-day kindergarten beginning in 2013 and for the third year in a row surpassed 500 kindergarten students on the first day. There are 576 students enrolled in kindergarten today, compared to 506 kindergarten students enrolled last year opening day.
The large kindergarten class necessitated in adding two more class sections of kindergarten in August. Because of space shortages, all kindergarten students are at Probstfield Elementary, located at Probstfield Center for Education, this year.
“We’re excited to provide a near-record-size kindergarten class with an excellent foundation of learning as we serve all kindergarten students at Probstfield this year,” Kovash said.
Kindergarten is the largest grade level with 576 students. First grade is the second largest grade level with 523 students, and second grade is a close third with 522 students. At 426 students, grade 8 is the smallest grade level in the district.
“With 540 more students over the last two years, our schools are over capacity,” Kovash. “This demonstrates the importance of the work done last year by the facilities task force and the need for the upcoming bond referendum.”
Enrollment at Horizon Middle School is 1,334 students, which is 20 students higher than last year’s opening enrollment. Moorhead High School’s opening day enrollment is 1,720, which is up 74 students from last year’s opening enrollment.
In 2006 the district saw the reversal of an 11-year trend of enrollment decline. This was followed by four years of increases in enrollment after efforts by the district to build and remodel schools and enhance the quality of education. The district’s enrollment was projected to stabilize in 2010 with slight increases over the next few years.