Geneva school enrollment up

Give the person who projected Geneva's public school enrollment an A.

He or she was 96-plus percent accurate predicting how many kids were going to attend public schools in District 304 this fall, Rebecca Allard, assistant superintendent for business, said about the figures released Monday night.

A total of 5,918 students were enrolled as of the sixth day of school.

That's 65 more than last year at this time.

Sixth-day enrollment is used to help determine how much state money the district will receive.

There are 2,565 students in kindergarten through fifth grades, 26 more than last year.

There are 1,419 students in middle school, 23 fewer than last year.

And there are 1,934 teens at the high school, 62 more than last year.

Earlier this year, the district predicted that District 304's enrollment would top out at 7,472 by 2012.

The growth in the district is primarily west of Randall Road, where subdivisions such as Mill Creek and Settlements of LaFox are being built.

The district is building an elementary school on Fabyan Parkway to handle the Mill Creek students. It is due to open in 2009. Presently, overflow students from that subdivision attend Western Avenue Elementary School.

"Western Avenue (Elementary School) will be our problem child next year because it will run out of space," Allard said.

Officials anticipate asking voters in the next several years to approve building an elementary school for the Settlements kids.

This past spring, voters also OK'd a plan to replace Coultrap Elementary School with a new school on Williamsburg Avenue, and to expand Geneva High School. Williamsburg will open in 2008.

At its next meeting, the school board will review enrollment trends by neighborhood.