Enrollment up at District 29

Funding could go up next year for Lakeside-Somers School District 29 due to increased enrollment.

Once a year each school’s enrollment numbers are looked at and then used to determine whether or not they meet accreditation standards and how much funding the schools would receive.

Accreditation essentially means if the school meets all of the state’s requirements for things such as teacher to student ratios and instructional time. Maintaining accreditation status is difficult to do, but once obtained it makes the school more appealing for prospective students and basically makes it official that the district provides a quality education.

Increased class sizes come as a mixed blessing for the district. On one hand, having more students means more funding. But on the other hand, some of the classes just barely exceed accreditation standard sizes.

Fifth-grade and kindergarten class sizes are slightly over the limit for accreditation standards with the state. Possible solutions include shuffling students attending Somers Middle School or Lakeside Elementary School from out of district, creating additional classes by hiring more teachers, or bringing extra personnel into each classroom to assist with the large class sizes.

Enrollment at LES actually dropped slightly from 2012. On Jan. 12, 2012 enrollment was 392 compared to 387 on Jan. 14 of this year. But, enrollment at SMS went from 187 to 200, making the overall district attendance go from 579 to 587 students.

Superintendent Paul Jenkins suggested the increased enrollment could be a sign of an improving local economy. District Clerk Diane Fetterhoff said the district is currently on track with its expenditures for the year and reminded the trustees that the district’s biggest expenditures come during the summer months when looking at upcoming expenses.

In other District 29 news:

• The board of trustees discussed possible ways to improve school safety during a public work session prior to their meeting on Jan. 22.

“The main thing I think is paramount is the entrance,” trustee Tim Rogge said. “It is real easy to walk into our schools because we all know each other, but the last shooting (Sandy Hook Elementary) was a teacher’s son.”

The discussion covered possible ways to improve safety at the schools with things like door-entry buzzers with cameras and running lockdown and evacuation drills at inconvenient times.

A community meeting will be held prior to the next board meeting for the public to present their safety concerns and ideas.

“The schools are pretty safe, but we can do a better job,” Superintendent Paul Jenkins said.