Crookston and Red Lake Falls public schools gained students this school year compared with last, and East Grand Forks Public Schools enrollment dropped only slightly, according to first-week enrollment counts.
Though many area school districts have experienced drastic enrollment declines over the years, the trend appears to be stabilizing.
For Red Lake Falls, it's the first big increase the district has seen in a while, said Superintendent Joel Young.
"We feel very fortunate that we've taken a turn and gone the other way this year," he said.
The district has 11 more students at the start of this school year than it did at the same time last year, for a total of 378. Just in kindergarten, the district gained 12 students.
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More families are moving into the city there and Young says he's expecting enrollment numbers to continue to climb. New housing developments going up on the north side of town should draw even more students, he said.
Crookston gained five students this year for a total of 1,383 students.
Enrollment at East Grand Forks Public Schools is down by just four students this year compared with the start of classes last year.
"We're actually up from where we finished the year last year (in June)," said Superintendent David Pace.
The district started the school year this week with 1,747 students, compared with 1,722 in June and 1,751 at the start of the 2006-2007 school year.
Pace said the district got a few more students from neighboring districts through open enrollment this year. About 200 students open enroll into the district, he said, from some smaller districts such as Warren-Alvardo-Oslo and Fisher because East Grand Forks offers more programs.
"If we want to continue to keep our enrollment up, we've got to maintain these programs," Pace said, promoting a referendum the district is seeking this fall.
The two private schools in East Grand Forks lost students this year.
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Sacred Heart School lost six students while Riverside Christian School lost about 14 students.
The decline at Riverside was mainly because of families moving, choosing to home-school their students or for financial reasons, said Principal Joe Chine.
Warren-Alvarado-Oslo lost 15 students this year, Fisher lost nine and Thief River Falls lost about a dozen.
But losing a dozen isn't much, said Superintendent Irv Peterson. From about 2000 to 2004, the district lost about 150 students.
Peterson expects the district might gain students next year.
"We've kind of leveled off," he said.
