Enrollment up across the board as school starts
Rivers Bouman, left, is greeted by principal Penni Anello on the first day of school at Glacier Gateway School Thursdat morning.
School District 6 saw robust enrollment as school started last week.
District-wide, the first day saw 2,141 students, which was up from 2,037 on the last day last year. That’s a total increase of 104 students, or an increase of 5 percent.
At the elementary level, Glacier Gateway had 494 students and Ruder Elementary had 467 students. The junior high has 503 students and the high school had 677 students. High school principal Scott Gaiser said the school has a large freshman class this year, with 186 students. Last year’s senior class, by comparison, had just 139 graduates.
Last year at the end of the year, Ruder had 456 students, Gateway had 496, the junior high had 484 and the high school had 601.
Deer Park continues to prove to be a popular school as well. It had 146 students on the first day, which was off by about 10 students at the end of last year.
Most students who attend Deer Park come to Columbia Falls for high school.
This fall and winter, School District 6 will take a look at its needs for its elementary schools in the future.
The district recently contracted with LPW Architecture and Engineering to examine the district’s school needs in the future and a long-range planning committee will look at the district’s options for future growth and what to do with some of its older buildings.