Easton Sees a Small Bump in K-8 Enrollment

There will be 12 more students enrolled in Easton's schools next year, the Board of Education reported Tuesday night.

Enrollment for for the 2011-2012 school year is projected as follows:

• 110 kindergartners
• 93 first graders
• 104 second graders
• 114 third graders
• 126 fourth graders
• 133 fifth graders

Total projected enrollment for SSES is 680, which is 12 more students than the initial enrollment projection of 668. Notably, there were 13 more kindergartners than expected, and 13 less third graders than .

There are projected to be 35 students in preschool, down from 43. If preschool is considered along with K-5, there will be a total of 715 students, with only an additional four students more than the original projection of 711.

is projected to have 140 sixth graders, 118 seventh graders, and 136 eighth graders, totaling 394 students, which is three students less than the previously projected 397 for those grades.

There are 91 special education students for the district, and four students have been exited from the special education program.

There was some good news for special education from a finance point of view.

“We are staying within budget,” said Finance Director Peggy Sullivan.

The board said they were working to get the curriculum online, but during public comment Ann Manusky of Morning Glory Drive felt they weren’t doing enough.

“The curriculum would be great to see online, but there’s no more information there than last November,” she said.

After the meeting, Manusky told Patch that the board had not done enough to detail the curriculum online, and that the one posted on the ER9 website is only a “framework” with “minimal information.”

Calendar adjustment

The official final school days for and will be on June 22, so decided the Board of Education at Tuesday’s April 14 meeting at HKMS.

Eighth graders who graduate on June 21 will have to come back for another half day, too, as per usual.

Maintenance issues

The board is also in talks with a bonding company to help fix the HKMS building management system. Right now, it is unknown just how much work the system needs.

“Does it need a complete redo? Do they need to rip out the entire system?” asked Dan Underberger, chairman. “We can’t do anything until we hear from the attorney."

It is possible that the cost of fixing the system could run as high as six figures, although the board expects to receive an endowment of about $1 million to be used for fixing for that if things go smoothly.

The PVC piping for HKMS still requires another $100,000 to finish, as it is temporarily fixed right now.

Additionally, the school will require six new motors at approximately $400 to $500 apiece for the chiller.