Start of new school year upon us
August 25 will be the final day of summer vacation for students in nearly every public and private school in the area ? the day in which young people trade in their beach towels for backpacks. On Tuesday morning, the routine of a nine-month grind begins for nearly 2,000 students in the Posen and Rogers City areas.
Most schools are reporting a drop in the number of students or enrollment figures hovering near where they were a year ago. Administrators will be waiting for the second week of the school year to see where the actual numbers settle, hoping they go up, or in the case of Rogers City Area Schools, hoping they don?t slip any more drastically than they already have.
Rogers City Area Schools traditionally have the largest student population in the county, but are down about 24 students from last year.
BUSINESS MANAGER Don Schaedig says enrollment is up in grades K-6 by 15 students, while the high school is down a dozen. Schaedig said Tuesday the district is expecting 665 students, as opposed to 689 in 2002, but the number is three above the projections of 662.
The one change in the facilities is the renovation of Rogers City Elementary?s parking lot. Contractor H & D told Schaedig they?ll be blacktopping today and Friday and that the new lot/dropoff area will be ready and available by Tuesday. Schaedig said the new lot will be one-way with the entrance across the street from Doris Lane and exit at Hoeft Road.
The only cloud hanging over the district is the unresolved labor issues with two unions. The contract with the Rogers City Educational Support Personnel (non-teaching union) expired June 30, while the Rogers City Educators Association contract expires at the end of this month. All grades, young fives through 12th grade, start at 8 a.m., or minutes after 8 a.m., Tuesday. The students will have one last mini-vacation before the routines of a five-day school week begins, because by law, public schools are not allowed to conduct classes on the Friday before Labor Day or on Labor Day.
POSEN CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS are down only five students from 2002, with enrollment holding at 305. The big hit for Posen will be in a year, after 37 seniors graduate in 2004. Elementary students begin their day at 8:10 a.m. on Tuesday, while secondary students will be arriving for classes at 8:15 a.m. With a handful of retirements at the end of the school year in June, there will be a couple of new teachers. St. Ignatius will have the bell for the first day of school ring fo
ST. JOHN SCHOOL begins the school year on Tuesday with students in grades 5 through 8 attending Bethel Youth camp for the first three days. The school day for 57 students in kindergarten through grade 8 starts at 8:05 a.m. Principal Ken Schroeder said the first day will begin with a worship service at St. John Church at 8:30 a.m. The number of students remained unchanged from 2002. St. Michael School in Belknap has its first day Tuesday for K through 8th grade students with the school day beginning at 8 a.m.
The Rogers City Baptist Academy is the only school that opens post-Labor Day. Forty students decked out in new uniforms will begin their first day of school September 2 at 8:30 a.m.