Local schools started back Monday morning with lots of activity and excitement from both students and teachers, and many area campuses reported much higher enrollment than in recent years.
Brownwood ISD Superintendent Reece Blincoe said that district-wide total enrollment for the first day of school was 3540 which is up from 3467 compared to the 2010 end-of-year numbers. He expects these numbers to rise over the next few weeks and are not final.
“We are happy with these numbers for two reasons,” Blincoe said. “One, the enrollment number is up again. Two, the growth is manageable.”
At Brownwood’s East Elementary, one staff member reported crowding due to a larger class than expected.
“We were expecting 22 in our class, but 26 showed up today,” stated Ms. Barrera. “We’re overcrowded but everyone is working on it. It’s been hectic,” she stated with a smile.
At Brownwood Middle School, student workers were busy helping out in the office. Ms. Blackstock, BMS Administrative Assistant stated that the middle school also had more students than last year. Enrollment for the middle school is at an 8 year high.
“Last year there were 480 students and today we have 540 (25 of which were transfers),”stated Blackstock. “There’s a lot of excitement. Tomorrow we’re handing out the computers to 8th graders and we’ve just hit the ground running.”
Some activities Blackstock stated coming up at BMS are the Meet the Teacher and Open House on Monday, August 30 from 5:00-6:30pm and Lady Cubs’ volleyball games in Snyder on Thursday night. She also encouraged people to take a look at the Brownwood ISD website and utilize it for information and communication.
BMS Principal, Bryan Allen also said that the first day has been a great day for students and staff alike. Although there were two teachers out on maternity leave and 7 teachers/staff that were new to the school, everything was running smoothly. He even felt that there would be enough laptops to issue all 8th graders as planned because extras were ordered for new students “just in case”.
New faculty members joining the BMS campus are Amber Keeney: Math (previously teaching at Northwest Elementary); Connie Easterwood: Assistant Principal (previously at Brownwood Intermediate); Michael Eckert: Wellness & Boys Coach; Matt Lemoine: Boys Coach & History; Reida Marr: Diagnostician; Kendi McGuire: Health & Trainer (works at BMS & BHS this year); and Ashley Laughlin: Girls Coach & teacher. Misti Penn, formerly the cafeteria manager has promoted to classroom paraprofessional as well, according to Allen.
Allen also stated that Ashley Laughlin will be a great asset to the girls’ athletics department as she currently holds the University of Texas school record in women’s pole vault.
At Brownwood High School, things seemed to be very successful as well. According to Bill Faircloth, principal at Brownwood High School, the first day was the smoothest first day he has ever experienced.
“It’s been a great day,” stated Faircloth. “The kids are just fantastic…talking to freshmen is an absolute delight. They are sweet, innocent and naive, so different from seniors with their questions.”
Faircloth stated that enrollment was 892 for the high school, with nearly 300 in the freshman class alone. He noted that those numbers would probably grow as another 50 students will typically register before Labor Day.
There are about 6 new classes being offered, including some that are dual credit classes. There are also eight new teachers according to Faircloth.
“There are 8 new teachers, they are absolutely wonderful…they’re still excited,” stated Faircloth.
Early ISD also got off to a great start. According to 5th grade reading teacher Lisa Hunter, students were excited to get the school year started.
“One of my students told me he couldn’t sleep all last night because he was so excited about the first day of school,” stated Hunter. “I was anxious and excited as well so I got just a little bit more sleep than that.”
Hunter and her class got acquainted by talking about their hobbies and the things they had done over the summer break. They had a good time talking about vacations and figuring out who had travelled the farthest distance.
“The students in my class are amazing,” stated Hunter. “If the rest of the school year goes like today, it is going to be a wonderful year.”
