The Duneland School Corporation has opened the new school year with an increase of 123 students.

The Duneland Schools took the head count on Monday of this week. Typically, the schools take a count on the very first day of school and the numbers are reported in the Chesterton Tribune, but this year, that tradition was thwarted.

Duneland Superintendent Dirk Baer said the first-day count on Wednesday of last week resulted in some inaccurate numbers at the high school level involving the special education counts. He had hoped to find out where the discrepancy was, but then the tornado hit that night and school officials had to deal with the lack of a roof at Goldsborough Gym.

Typically, Duneland takes a second head count on the Monday following the first day of school, and this year was no exception. To ensure an apples-to-apples comparison between the start of this school year and last, Baer compared the two first-Monday counts.

And that count shows an increase of 123 actual students -- from 5,935 students on the first Monday of last year to 6,058 students this year.

On the first day of school last year, the count showed a drop of eight students.

This early head count, however, will likely change. The “official” student count -- the one that determines state funding for the schools -- will occur on Sept. 18. Known as the Average Daily Membership count, the official count is always lower than the actual head count since Indiana funds a half-day kindergarten program only, and for school funding purposes, counts each kindergarten student as a half-student.

Baer said Duneland was anticipating an enrollment increase of around 100 students. So if there are any surprises in the numbers, he said it deals with kindergarten. The total number of kindergarteners climbed by 46. The number enrolled in the half-day program dropped by 33, but the number in the full-day program soared by 79. As a result, Duneland hired more full-time kindergarten teachers.

The following is the grade-by-grade head count taken on Monday of this week, compared with last year’s first-Monday count in parentheses. The numbers include resident special education students who attend school elsewhere, but they do not include non-resident special education students who attend school at Duneland.

K: 417 (371). Of the total, 158 are in the half-day program (191 last year), and 259 are in the full-day program (180 last year).

1: 410 (436)

2: 456 (477)

3: 500 (447)

4: 468 (438)

5: 449 (432)

6: 451 (436)

7: 458 (475)

8: 495 (467)

9: 503 (465)

10: 460 (510)

11: 509 (487)

12: 482 (494)

K half-day: 36 (42)

K full-day: 59 (40)

1: 97 (92)

2: 96 (113)

3: 115 (85)

4: 94 (112)

K half-day: 25 (40)

K full-day: 43 (23)

1: 71 (59)

2: 67 (86)

3: 96 (81)

4: 93 (66)

K half-day: 18 (20)

K full-day: 44 (34)

1: 69 (77)

2: 80 (85)

3: 91 (81)

4: 86 (70)

K half-day: 46 (55)

K full-day: 69 (40)

1: 93 (103)

2: 109 (105)

3: 110 (101)

4: 99 (98)

K half-day: 33 (34)

K full-day: 44 (43)

1: 80 (102)

2: 104 (83)

3: 88 (95)

4: 96 (80)

5: 160 (156)

6: 177 (159)

5: 289 (258)

6: 274 (264)

CMS and CHS: See grades 7th through 12th above.

Posted 8/27/2009