By KEVIN McCLINTOCK
GateHouse News Service
Educating and empowering all students with lifelong learning skills is Wellington's United School District 353 ultimate goal. Only difference is, there's a few more students learning those all-important skills than there were last year. Wellington Superintendent Rick Weiss released on Tuesday districtwide head counts for the city's six public schools.
Four of the six saw slight to modest increases since the 2007-2008 school year. Districtwide, the overall student total inched up by eight students, leveling out at 1,698.
Among the four elementary schools, Eisenhower led the bunch with 230 students, an increase of six from last year. Right behind it, sitting at 229 students, was Lincoln Elementary. In fact, Lincoln saw the largest increase district-wide — 17 students. Kennedy Elementary saw a bump of 11, peaking at 199 students. Only Washington Elementary recorded a head count loss, falling from 143 students last year to 127, a decrease of 16 students.
Wellington Middle School topped out at 384, a decrease of just three students over last year's total.
Finally, Wellington High School saw an increase of 15 students from last year, totaling 529.
The overall growth seems to be a statewide trend. Between 2000 and 2005, public elementary enrollment rose by 2 percent, while secondary enrollment increased by 10 percent.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, nearly 50 million students attend 97,000 public elementary and secondary schools nationwide.
