School enrollment expected to drop initially, grow during year

Hoover school officials say they expect to start the 2017-18 school year with almost 80 fewer students than they had last year, but growth is expected over the course of the school year.

The official K-12 enrollment count for Hoover City Schools last year was 13,876. When school starts this year, Hoover officials expect to see 13,797 students coming through the doors. But by the end of the school year in May, with additional home construction, K-12 enrollment is expected to climb to 13,967, school system records show.

Most of that growth is expected to be in the western part of the city.

Deer Valley Elementary had an official enrollment count of 924 students last year. This year, the school is expected to start with 936 students and grow to 957 students by the end of the year, records show.

School officials this summer set up two portable classrooms in a double-wide trailer outside the main Deer Valley school building to help accommodate the growth. They plan to put their enrichment teachers for gifted students in the portables.

Parents had said they didn’t want their children to spend all day, every day in the portables, so this arrangement will allow children to come and go for their specialty classes, Superintendent Kathy Murphy said.

If U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala eventually approves the school system’s rezoning plan, students would be redistributed among schools in a future year, and the portable classrooms may not be necessary.

Brock’s Gap Intermediate School also is expecting growth this year. Brock’s Gap had 772 students last year. School officials were anticipating starting this year with 786 students at Brock’s Gap and ending the year with 805, but as of mid-July, there already were 807 enrolled for this year.

Hoover High, another school where officials are concerned about numbers, had 2,922 students last year and expects to start this year with 2,926 and end with 2,975.

Berry Middle School appears to be outpacing early estimates. Berry had 1,142 students last year and was anticipating 1,144 at the beginning of this year and 1,149 by the end of the year. But as of mid-July, 1,170 students already had enrolled at Berry.

Enrollment is expected to drop some at Trace Crossings Elementary (by 29 students), Gwin Elementary (15), Spain Park High (6), Greystone Elementary (5) and Bluff Park Elementary (1).

School officials are adjusting staffing levels as necessary to handle increases at some schools and decreases in others. The net effect is a need for about four new teaching positions districtwide, Murphy said.

School officials also are restoring an instructional support specialist position that had been cut in a previous year and hiring a curriculum specialist to assist Chief Academic Officer Cindy Adams instead of replacing the second chief academic officer who was cut.

Transportation coordinator Jeremy Bradford eliminated five floating bus driver positions that were not reimbursable by the state and added a parts associate and four shop assistants whose salaries are reimbursable. That move actually saved the school district $43,000 a year in local money, Murphy said.

On the construction front, projects to add new turf and tracks to the stadiums at Hoover and Spain Park high schools are on schedule to be completed in August, operations coordinator Tracy Hobson said. Partial roofing projects were done at Rocky Ridge Elementary and Simmons Middle, and school officials plan to take bids on construction of a new band room at Hoover High in August, Hobson said.

Parents should know that school lunch prices are increasing by 10 cents this year to $2.35 for elementary students and $2.60 for secondary students, per federal guidelines. Breakfast prices will stay at $1.50. Adult meals will increase by 20 cents to $3.20.

Students also may see some new menu items, such as baked waffle fries, thanks to switching to a new food vendor and flexibility offered by the new U.S. secretary of agriculture, child nutrition program director Melinda Bonner said.

Hoover has applied for a waiver to be able to offer 1percent flavored milk instead of skim flavored milk and hopes that will increase milk consumption, Bonner said. They also hope to offer white biscuits instead of just whole grain biscuits, she said.

Hoover High School also is increasing the number of refrigerated vending machines outside of the cafeteria from three to five, Murphy said.