Johnston School Enrollment Increases Likely to Continue

From the Johnston school district website:

RSP & Associates, the demographer used by Johnston Community School District, has provided an updated report on enrollment projections through the 2017-18 school year.

Using data from the school district, city of Johnston, city of Grimes, and Polk County, the demographer projected that by the 2017-18 school year, district enrollment, grades K-12, will have increased by roughly 500 students, for an estimated total of 6,814 students.

On a yearly basis, this means between 40 and 150 more students. Click here to view a grade-by-grade, year-by-year enrollment report.

The most recent report also states that currently, there are four grades with class sizes larger than 500, with many other grades within 10 students of 500. By 2017-18, it is anticipated that each grade has the propensity to be greater than 500 students.

With a 98.9 percent accuracy rate, RSP & Associates is trusted by many other school districts – large and small – in the region for enrollment projection data.

With building capacity already being tested, yearly increases of students only contributes to the need for more space at all levels, the district said.

The RSP & Associates report concluded that a number of capacity issues would arise without modification to the buildings:

1. Elementary school capacity issues will be minimized with planned building expansion
2. Moving Wallace to the current 8/9 building, along with a complete renovation would increase capacity to 750 students, alleviating overcrowding at other elementaries.
3. Middle school (6-9 grades) capacity becomes an issue by 2016-17
4. With the move of grades 8-9 to the current high school, capacity increases from 1,050 to 1,550, providing much-needed space for middle schoolers.
5. High school capacity becomes a serious issue by 2017-18

Without the construction of a new 10-12 high school, high schoolers and students at the 8-9 building will be in portable classrooms all year.