STURGIS, SD 9/1/2016 – An apparent spike in enrollment at the Meade School District caused administrators to hire more teachers before school started on Monday.
From early registration numbers, it looks as if the Meade School District may see a sizable enrollment increase for this school year and the district hired two additional teachers to accommodate the extra students.
Meade School District Superintendent Don Kirkegaard said official numbers would not be available until late September, but “as of last Friday, our numbers are up significantly.”
“Piedmont, Sturgis Elementary and the middle school all have some sizable growth,” Kirkegaard said.
If enrollment numbers hold or increase, the district has little remedy because there are no other classrooms available, Kirkegaard said.
“We are bursting at the seams,” he said.
“We are struggling with space, but the school board is proactive in this regard,” he added, citing the remodeling of the second floor classrooms of the Williams Administration Building as a way to accommodate the Sturgis Elementary School fifth-graders. The teachers hired last week were for kindergarten and fifth grade the superintendent said.
Future capital improvement projects could include a new middle school in the Piedmont/ Summerset area and a new attendance center in the rural area.
Excerpt from Meade County Times-Tribune Staff Deb Holland and Mike Johnson
