School Enrollment Grows But At Slower Rate Than In Recent Years

The census of enrollments in Oconee County Schools this fall showed 8,170 students attending the system’s 11 schools, an increase of 1.8 percent over the year earlier.

In his report to the Board of Education on Monday, Brook Whitmire, chief Human Resources officer, noted that the growth in enrollments was “a little bit less than what we’ve seen in the last few years.”

In each of the five years from 2004 to 2008, fall enrollments increased more than 3 percentage points over the year earlier.

Whitmire told the Board in his report that the system had hired 63 teachers for the new school year, down from 85 hired for the beginning of the 2018-2019 academic year.

Race and ethnicity data for the school system show that 80 percent of the students classified themselves as White, the same percentage as in the last three beginning-of-the-year counts.

In response to a separate report on Monday by Brock Toole, school chief Operations officer, School Board members continued to raise questions about the decision by the Board of Commissioners to construct roundabouts at the entrances to Oconee County Middle School.

For more on the story, with a video of the Board of Education meeting, please go to Oconee County Observations.