The West Central Valley School District has seen a significant change in its enrollment numbers for the 2018-19 school year.

According to their certified enrollment, the number of students in the district has increased by 35.84 to approximately 817 students total. Superintendent Lance Ridgely says this was quite a surprise as the district was on a downward trend the last few years, and hasn’t seen an increase of this scope since the district was formed in 2001. Ridgely says direct enrollment into the district mostly contributed to the increase, “We started talking about it and Symantha (Crawford) and I said, ‘Alright, we need to look at this from last year and see where they came from.’ And most of the students came into our elementary buildings and as a result of that, those are kids that we’re probably going to keep for a long period of time. Typically when kids move into the elementary you see them stay there, unless mom or dad’s in a highly mobile industry that they work in.”

Ridgely is now looking to have an enrollment projection study done for the next five years to aid the district in determining facility use. There will also be a committee meeting over the course of the school year to discuss the possibility of having grade-alike elementary buildings.