School Wondering How High Enrollment Will Go - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

School Wondering How High Enrollment Will Go

The start of school in Minot could bring a huge increase in the number of students.

August 22nd is the start date for classes for Minot Public Schools - but district officials have no idea just how many students will be in class when that day arrives.

In the past three weeks, more than 200 new students have been registered, and there are more coming in every day.
In fact, the district has hired one person to coordinate all of the paperwork that goes along with registering new students.
Assistant Superintendent Jeff Holm says the woman in that job has been very busy, and it's anybody's guess how high the enrollment will be on opening day.

(Jeff Holm, Assistant Superintendent) "She is getting about 30-40 new students coming in daily.  That concerns us certainly, it's nice to know it's coming but causes a little anxiety but we don't know if some have left us.  It'll be very interesting when school opens in a couple of weeks to see who all shows up."

This morning, the office handling new registrations was seeing a steady stream of parents and children.
One family bringing two kids to school - a kindergartner and a 3rd grader - has moved to town from Miami.
The mother says her kids have been waiting all summer to get into school.
But she wonders how the family will deal with winter!

(Marilyn Grajalez, New Minot Resident) "For now it's good but we're waiting for winter when it's going to be a bit hard because we're not used to the winter.  Hopefully we can get over it." (But you've found a place to live and everything?) "Yeah we're staying at a house and have a vehicle and it's not bad.  It's way better than Miami."

Several elementary schools in Minot will have portable classrooms and about a half-dozen new teaching positions have been added across the district  to help handle the influx of new students.