Cherokee Makes History As School Enrollment Tops 40,000

Staff Report

The Cherokee County School District made history today with record-breaking enrollment.

Enrollment for Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014 — the third day of the 2014-15 school year — exceeded 40,000 students for the first time in district history. At 40,081 students, the school district has already seen an increase of 790 students from last school year’s day three enrollment.

At this point, this school year’s enrollment is just under the peak-enrollment projection of 40,200, having increased 621 students since the first day of school. Peak enrollment usually is not reached until the 20th day of school.

More enrollment growth is fast on the way as the district has been granted an additional Georgia Lottery-funded pre-kindergarten class. This class, which is being added at Canton Elementary School STEM Academy, will allow some of the many children on the waiting list for this popular program to be served; the school previously only offered one Georgia Lottery pre-kindergarten class.

This school year also saw the addition of a second Georgia Lottery pre-kindergarten classes at Hasty Elementary School Fine Arts Academy in Canton; these classes additionally are offered at Ball Ground Elementary School STEM Academy (one class); Little River Preschool Center (two classes); Oak Grove Preschool Center (one class); R.M. Moore Elementary School (one class) in Waleska.

The Georgia Lottery-funded classes are one facet of the school district’s preschool program, which also includes Special Education preschool programs for eligible children age 3 and older and Head Start preschool programs for income-eligible 4-year-olds.