DETROIT LAKES — The 2021-2022 school year has just come to a close, and the latest numbers show enrollment held mostly steady throughout the year at Detroit Lakes Public Schools, dipping by just about 3% over the course of the year. The year ended with a total K-12 enrollment of 2,598 — a decline of 89 students from the start of the school year.
Those numbers, pulled from the monthly school board enrollment summaries from last September and this May, do not include preschool, Laker Transitions or Alternative Learning Center students.
“Enrollment, for the most part, is holding steady,” Superintendent Mark Jenson said at the school board meeting on Monday, May 23.
He noted that kindergarten sections at Rossman Elementary will remain unchanged next year, at five sections. He explained after the meeting that, earlier in the year, as the district looked ahead at staffing for next year, it was suggested that kindergarten sections at Rossman be reduced to four.
"But in the last month or so, we have picked up additional kindergarten students for Rossman, and so we have had to add the section back," he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Overall, the enrollment for kindergarten in the district, at both Rossman and Roosevelt elementary schools, dropped by six students from the start of the school year, from 200 to 194.
In grades 1-5, Roosevelt reported 482 students in May, which was a decrease of six students from the start of the year. Grade 5 had the largest class size throughout the school year, starting and ending with 109 students. The smallest class size was first grade, with 86 students. At the start of the year there were 89.
At Rossman, grades 1-5 also started the year with 488 students, and by May reported an increase of three pupils. The largest class size was third grade, with 103 students. The smallest class size was first grade, with 91 students.
At the middle school, which includes grades 6-8, enrollment decreased by 29 students. To start the year, sixth grade had the most students, with 211. By the end of the year, that number had decreased to 198. Even with the 13-student reduction, the sixth grade class was still the largest in the school. Seventh grade was the smallest class size, having 183 students in September and by May, 179.
The senior high includes grades 9-12 and started the year with 915 students. Between September and May, 51 high school students left the district, leaving a total of 864. The freshman class had the largest class size, ending the year with 245 pupils. The smallest class was the senior class, which accounted for 190 students at the start of the school year and concluded in May with 145. (Not including students in PSEO, Laker Transitions or at the Alternative Learning Center.)
The Trust Project
