Published: September 05, 2008 09:16 am         

Enrollment up slightly in Mineral system

KEYSER, W.Va. — Enrollment in Mineral County’s schools is up this year, according to Superintendent Skip Hackworth.

Hackworth presented the Mineral County Board of Education on Tuesday with a school-by-school rundown of enrollment, based on figures obtained earlier that day.

Noting that enrollment figures are often unstable during the first week of school because records are usually not requested for students who have transferred out of the county until after school starts, Hackworth said he felt Tuesday’s figures were pretty accurate.

“We feel that the Tuesday after Labor Day is usually the most accurate,” he said.

The superintendent cautioned that the enrollment statistics do not include the county’s prekindergarten students who attend classes at one of the county’s day care partners.

“Those figures will be added on top of this,” he said.

The numbers seemed to underline what Hackworth has been telling the board about the growing numbers of younger students in the northern end of the county.

Wiley Ford Primary, for example, only gained a total of three students, but the sizes of the kindergarten, first- and second-grade classes are quite large, with 42 students in kindergarten, 51 in first grade and 55 in second grade.

Those numbers were surpassed only by Fort Ashby, with 86 kindergartners, 75 first-graders and 74 second-graders.

Wiley Ford has 181 students and Fort Ashby has 235 students. Both schools are pre-K through second grade.

The largest school in the county, Keyser Primary-Middle, houses 1,179 students — 10 fewer than last year. Eighty-five of those students are in kindergarten, 109 in first grade and 109 in second grade.

The school that lost the greatest number of students from last year was Frankfort High, with enrollment there being down by 35 students.

Board president Terry LaRue noted that the downward trend at Frankfort “is subject to change” as ATK Alliant Tech Systems moves forward with its planned expansion and addition of jobs.

Keyser High School, in contrast, is up by nine students.

The county’s schools, their enrollment and the change from last year’s enrollment are as follow:

• Burlington Primary: 152 students, two more than last year.

• Elk Garden Primary: 102, one more.

• Fort Ashby Primary: 235, two fewer.

• Fountain Primary: 179, eight more.

• Frankfort Intermediate: 315, 17 more.

• Keyser Primary-Middle: 1,179, 10 fewer.

• New Creek Primary: 153, five more.

• Keyser Head Start: 82, the same.

• Wiley Ford Primary: 181, three more.

• Frankfort Middle School: 542, nine more.

• Frankfort High School: 610, 35 fewer.

• Keyser High School: 825, nine more.

• Mineral County Alternative School: six, four more.

There were no figures available for the Mineral County Technical School.

Contact Liz Beavers at lbeavers@times-news.com.