The Lindbergh Board of Education heard a presentation Feb. 24 highlighting district demographics and enrollment estimations, after the district conducted a full study with Business Information Services. 

Chief Human Resources Officer Brian McKenney said he is often asked about how the drop in live births impacts the district’s enrollment. A slide showed a trend downward in the birth rate, and a trend upward in kindergarten enrollment, which he attributes to people moving into the district.

McKenney said staff has been talking about the district’s enrollment reaching 8,000 students for years, and projections show the district could reach that point by 2029. The district has the capacity to support this many students but the makeup of buildings may need to change in the future.

“We’ve got some buildings that are at 75-percent capacity and we’ve got other buildings becoming pretty full, so certainly there will need to be some discussion on how we organize our district but globally we will be able to handle capacity in the facilities that we have,” McKenney said. 

Most projections showed a mostly steady growth for all schools, with a drop occasionally, but Kennerly Elementary is expected to continue dropping in enrollment until around 2027.

“Kennerly is projected to see some much needed relief in the next couple of years,” McKenney said. “Right now Kennerly has 21 classrooms, and each of those are very full.”

McKenney said the downward trend is a result of these large classes leaving the building and smaller classes replacing them. The building enrollment is expected to get back to its current size in about ten years.

Board Director Cathy Carlock-Lorenz said the projections don’t surprise her due to the construction of new parts of Lindbergh High School.

“This doesn’t surprise me when we look at our brand new beautiful high school that we’re building,” Carlock-Lorenz said.

“Right, build it and they will come I heard somewhere,” McKenney replied.