The Eastern Pulaski School Corporation expects a slight increase in enrollment. The official count isn’t until Friday, but Superintendent Dan Foster says the corporation’s preliminary enrollment figure is 1,285. “Last year, in September it was 1,262, and then in February it was 1,225,” he told the school board Monday. “So right now, we’re up 23 from last fall.” He said that 49 students have left the corporation, while 56 new ones have enrolled.
Foster also addressed concerns that Eastern Pulaski was losing students to Culver Community Schools. “There was a big rumor out there that we lost 30 kids to Culver,” he said. “I don’t know where that rumor came from. Seven students went to Culver. Four came from Culver here, so there’s their net of three.”
He said the bigger concern was the number of out-of-state transfers. “Nineteen transferred out of state, fifteen from out of state coming in. We’re seeing more and more transient population, even locally,” Foster said. “A student lives with mom for a while, has an argument, ‘I want to go live with dad.’ Now he goes to dad’s. Dad’s in a different district, so they’re going to a different school. That’s not working out, so they come back to mom’s. We’re seeing more and more of that kind of stuff.”
Meanwhile, Winamac Middle School Principal Ryan Dickinson reported that his school’s enrollment is above 300 for the first time since he’s been there.
