Cove, Elgin school districts pleased with fall enrollment

Oct. 6—COVE — The enrollment pictures for the Cove and Elgin school districts are a study in contrasts.

The districts’ enrollment situations appear equally bright, but Elgin’s shines in a straight-forward sense, while Cove’s is far better than it appears at first glance.

The Elgin School District has 438 students, 39 more than it had at the same time last year. The 9% jump reflects an increase in the number of young families moving into Elgin, according to Elgin School District Superintendent Dianne Greif.

“It is always good to have that happening here,” she said.

Another reason for the increase is that Elgin High School had a small graduating class of just 11 students last spring, down from its average of about 20 students, and the school district has a typically sized kindergarten class of about 20 students this year.

Despite the 39-student jump, class sizes in the Elgin School District are still within its 18- to 22-student objective, with the exception of fifth and sixth grade classes, which are a little higher than 22, Greif said.

Enrollment in the Cove School District is 306 students, down eight from the end of the 2021-22 school year, The decline is one Earl Pettit, the Cove School District’s superintendent, pushed for because Cove had topped its capacity of 306.

“We have worked hard to limit our enrollment,” Pettit said.

Cove is a charter school, meaning it is open to students both inside and outside its district. This fall, the Cove School District received applications from families who wanted a total of 48 of their sons and daughters to be admitted as new transfer students. The school district, however, admitted just two of the applicants because that was all the school district had room for. Pettit said guidelines established by the district’s charter council limit the school district’s enrollment to 306 students.

Restricting the number of new transfer students to two when combined with the out-of-district students who graduated or left for other reasons, brought Cove’s enrollment to 306.

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The reason Cove had room for just two new out-of-district transfer students is the growth of its in-district enrollment. The number of students from families living within the school district is up 102 students from what it was six years ago, Pettit said.

“We have a lot of young families moving into our district,” he said.

Cove now has about 250 students from families living within the school district’s boundaries and 60 from families living outside it.

The growth is expected to continue.

“By 2030, we are projecting we will have 330 in-district students,” Pettit said.

Dick Mason is a reporter with The Observer. Contact him at 541-624-6016 or dmason@lagrandeobserver.com.