Wolf Point Faces School Enrollment Decrease

The Wolf Point School District is dealing with a significant enrollment decline when comparing figures from last year to this year’s count day.

Wolf Point Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Perkins said the overall decrease is from 671 students last year to 605 students this fall.

“The thing we see is the numbers level off when they come to the high school,” Perkins said.

The elementary level is more flexible because some families decide to send their children to schools in other nearby schools or some children don’t attend school at all.

Wolf Point’s kindergarten class is down about 11 students from a year ago.

Last year’s kindergarten class of 41 students are now a first-grade class of 37 students.

The third-grade class was a large class of 51 students and now is a fourthgrade class of 44 students. There also was a decrease of five students between last year’s fourth-grade class and this year’s fifthgrade class. Overall, enrollment at Southside Elementary School has decreased from 136 students last year to 119 students this year.

Enrollment at Northside has decreased from 155 last year to 130 this fall.

At the junior high level, enrollment has decreased from 169 students to 145 students. Class sizes range from 41 sixth-graders to 55 eighth-graders.

“We have people who have moved or might not be going to school,” Perkins said.

The high school has remained consistent with 211 students. The largest class is 57 sophomores.

Perkins’ goal is to increase the academic standards at Wolf Point so much that students will attend school here rather than other area schools.

“I think we will get there,” Perkins said. “We’re having things improved.”