Mead Schools Ready For Fall

The Mead School District will enter the 1997-98 school year fully staffed even though the student population is slightly less than projected.

“We’re probably within 100 students of what we anticipated,” said Al Swanson, the district’s superintendent of finance.

The difference between the projected number of students and the actual number is so miniscule that filling full-time positions has not been a problem, Swanson said.

An extra 100 students would have resulted in an additional $400,000 in state revenue, which could have been used to hire another four or five teachers, Swanson said.

However, the district was able to avoid any potential staff shortages when it converted Mead and Northwood junior high schools to middle schools this year.

“The enrollments of those schools fell from 1,000 to 700 each when the ninth-graders were moved to Mead and Mount Spokane high schools,” Swanson said. “That allowed us to reassign staff where needed throughout the district.”

Swanson said 7,900 students will be enrolled in the Mead district this fall.

The district will have 77 more students this year when the first school bell rings, compared to opening day last year, he said.

“The tremendous growth we were experiencing earlier this decade has tapered off, but we’re still in a growth mode,” Swanson said. “We’re lagging a bit behind our forecasted growth, but that hasn’t resulted in a staff shortage.”

Mount Spokane High School will open with a freshman, sophomore and junior class but no senior class.

In an informal straw poll conducted when they were sophomores, Mead’s class of ‘98 voted to remain Panthers instead of moving to Mount Spokane to become Wildcats, Swanson said.

“There will be about 900 students at Mount Spokane High this year,” he said. “Each class of students at Mead tended to run from 550 to 600 students. The new school will cut that in half.

By next year, Mount Spokane and Mead should have 1,200 to 1,300 students, Swanson said.

, DataTimes