The first student count of the school year for Oxford Area Community Schools shows that the district has grown ever so slightly, from 4,006 last year to 4,049.
The following is a break down of the student counts by schools:
n Oxford High School increased by 64 students for 1204 this year.
n Oxford Middle School is down 19 students from 951-932. “We expected the jump at the high school and the decrease at the middle school because of a very large eighth grade class,” said Curriculum Director Karen Eckert.
n Clear Lake is down from last year’s 523 to 518.
n Daniel Axford is down from 339 to 326.
n Oxford Elementary is up from 254 to 292, an increase of 38 students. Like the middle and high schools, a large third grade class leaving Daniel Axford caused the increase.
n The numbers between Lakeville and Leonard Elementaries are deceiving because of the area attendance adjustment that took place this year. A large number of students were redistricted from the Lakeville attendance area to Leonard. As a result, Leonard increased from 163 students to 311, while Lakeville decreased from 551 to 380.
“Those numbers did exactly what we wanted them to do,” said Eckert.
She added that this is a preliminary count and the numbers could change even more over the next few weeks.
Oxford Schools state foundation monies are based on these student counts. This year the district will receive $6,958 per student, which does not include the Headlee rollback.