Enrollment down at some Brainerd-area schools

BRAINERD, Minn. (AP) — With the new school year now a week old, some schools in the Brainerd area are seeing a noticeable dip in enrollment.

School districts in Brainerd, Crosby-Ironton, Staples-Motley and Pequot Lakes are all reporting declining enrollments.
The dip in Brainerd can be partly attributed to budget cuts and closures of open enrollment for all but the high school grade levels. Those factors have contributed to an increase at some of the area’s parochial schools.

But some areas have seen a large Class of 2008 replaced with a smaller Class of 2009. Crosby-Ironton has 45 fewer students in its senior class this year than last.

Superintendent Jamie Skjeveland says “there are a lot of smiling faces right now because we thought it was going to be bad and we prepared for the worst and it wasn’t as bad as we had thought it was going to be.”

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