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But this year, its enrollment has taken a small dip.
North Thurston Public Schools’ student count last week was 14,013, compared with 14,073 a year ago.
“We projected for stable enrollment and even with the decline, we consider it to be in the stable range, given the size of our district,” said John Bash,chief operations officer for North Thurston Public Schools.
Last September, the district reported an increase of nearly 400 students, and officials attributed that largely to the homecoming of deployed military members stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
“We have a liaison that we work with (at JBLM) to find out if they’re planning to add any troops at the base or shift any troops at the base,” Bash said. “We were told to expect no change in the military student population.”
In the meantime, student enrollment remained flat in the Olympia School District, which reported a student head count of 9,108, compared with 9,107 for the same day last year, according to spokesman Ryan Betz.
Tumwater School District’s enrollment was 5,634 students, down from 5,786 a year ago.
“We had predicted some decline this year, but we did not predict enough decline,” said Tumwater spokeswoman Kim Howard. “Some schools are up, some are down; others are about the same. Our two biggest urban elementary schools, Peter G. Schmidt and Michael T. Simmons, have actually added students.”
And while private schools across the country are struggling with enrollment declines due to the poor economy, at least two of South Sound’s private schools are bucking the trend.
With 41 students in grades nine through 11, Pope John Paul II High School in Lacey has twice the number of students from when it opened a year ago.
“Our families are coming from an increasingly wider geographic region, from towns as far-reaching as Hoodsport, McCleary, Spanaway, Roy and Chehalis,” said assistant administrator Therese Allin.
The school plans for even more growth next year when it adds classes for 12th-grade students.
Meantime, the Olympia Waldorf School had 159 students sign up for the 2011-12 school year, up from 145 a year ago, according to business director Aurora Gregory.
“I think a lot of it is our expanded early-childhood program,” she said. “Our kindergarten is much larger than last year.”
The 25-year-old school began losing enrollment in 2008 due to the sour economy, according to Gregory. School officials hope this year’s gain is a promising sign that the declining trend is over.
Lisa Pemberton: 360-754-5433
lpemberton@theolympian.com
