East County braces for growing enrollment

As the principal of a school that sits in the center of constantly expanding Lakewood Ranch, Kathy McLean is used to seeing B.D. Gullett Elementary classrooms fill up with students.

So far, in the 2014-15 school year, however, the East County school has welcomed more students — in one year — since it opened its doors in 2007.

Gullett’s enrollment has increased by more than 100 students, according to a 10-day count McLean received Aug. 29 from the Manatee County School District. The school now houses 665 students.

“We knew we were going to have a little bit of a burst in enrollment due to new developments around us which have either just entered the last phase of completion or are finished,” McLean said. “We’ve typically grown by about 30 to 60 kids each year, but we’ve had a little more of a gain this year.”

As more families head to East County to fill new housing developments, area schools are gearing up to support the extra heads in classrooms. 

East County and the school district are addressing the growth by hiring more teachers. Manatee County expects to hire 50 additional teachers this school year, and will transfer 22  of those teachers to in-need schools.

The district plans to utilize the Paperless Applicant Tracking System (PATS), and other career search websites, such as Employ Florida, to find its educators. Officials anticipate the search to exceed beyond the local scope.

Gullet will hire four additional teachers for grades kindergarten through third. The instructors will join the school’s faculty within two weeks and will either come from other county schools with decreased enrollment numbers or will be new hires. 

Currently, Gullett has two certified teacher substitute instructors in a kindergarten and first-grade classroom to temporarily meet the school’s need. 

Freedom Elementary Principal Jim Mennes, whose school sits off traffic-heavy State Road 64, welcomed 22 new students compared with last year — a growth he intends to handle by hiring one additional third-grade instructor.

“Our classrooms (at Freedom) typically have an 18:1 ration of students to the teacher,” Mennes said. “Right now, we’re pushing about 22:1 in certain grades. We have plenty of space, just need the extra teacher.”

Lakewood Ranch High School welcomed about 200 new students to its campus, Principal Craig Little estimates. He anticipates hiring more instructors, but specifics are yet to be determined.

Moving forward, administrators assure parents that area schools have plenty of space for the extra bodies in seats. 

Lack of individualized attention is also not an issue, according to officials.

“I’ve been communicating with parents to assure them their child will be in a good place, where they can feel excited about school rather than feeling the loss of their teacher’s attention,” McLean said. 

The increased number of students is a countywide trend.

The 10-day school counts released by the Manatee County School District Tuesday afternoon reveal the school district welcomed 1,200 new students to local schools, or a 2.5% increase, from the previous school year.

Collectively, Manatee County houses 47,153 students. Elementary schools increased by 375 additional students, middle schools increased by 201 students, high schools jumped 602 students and charter schools increased enrollment by 147 students. 

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].