Whitefish enrollment up to start school year

Enrollment within Whitefish schools is up significantly this fall with about 70 more students in the classrooms compared to the beginning of last year.

All total, 1,668 students were enrolled in the district in September, a 4 percent jump over last September.

Enrollment at Muldown is at 638 students, the highest total of all schools in the district.

“And two more walked in today,” Muldown principal Linda Whitwright said on Thursday. “Enrollment soared last year and it’s continued to increase this year. I hope it continues going forward.”

Whitefish Middle School started the year with 536 students, up nearly 10 percent over last year.

Whitefish High School had 494 students, down slightly from the start of last year.

The increase at the lower elementary level isn’t surprising to administrators who have been watching enrollment numbers, said Whitefish superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt.

“We have been experiencing this upward trend for the last couple of years and made adjustments to our teaching teams last spring to be prepared for school this fall,” Davis Schmidt said.

Bonnie Hannigan was hired as an additional second grade teacher to assist with the class that’s 140 students deep, by far the biggest in the school.

Whitwright said the school has plenty of physical space for the number of students enrolled, although they may have to make accommodations for the second grade class as it moves up the ranks.

“When that bubble goes farther, we may do some rearranging of classrooms,” she said, noting that the second-grade pod has the most physical space in the school.

The booming numbers at Muldown have been a topic for the task force looking at a possible remodel of the building.

“We are thrilled to have so many students thriving in our schools and will continue to be thoughtful about preparing ourselves to meet the needs of our community,” Davis Schmidt said. “With the increased enrollment at our elementary level we are looking at ways to plan for and be prepared for enrollment trends into the future.”

The 154 sixth-graders at the middle school account for the largest class in the district. The smallest class is in ninth grade with 104 students.

Davis Schmidt says a few factors are playing into the overall increased enrollment.

“As our building principals and support staff have talked with families new to our schools we are learning that we have many new families moving to our community,” she said. “We also have families who have lived in our community for some time who are making different choices for education than they have in the past.”

The total district enrollment had steadily declined since 2005 until a turnaround last year.

There were 1,938 students enrolled in 2005. That number bottomed out in 2014 with enrollment at 1,530.