VIDEO: School Enrollment Up at School Year's Start

Enrollment in Chatham schools as of Tuesday matches almost exactly numbers predicted by a demographer last year.

Student population grew by about 60 students from the start of the to 4,055 on Sept. 6, 2011.

Interim Superintendent Dennis Fyffe presented the Board of Education with enrollment numbers throughout the district at Tuesday night's meeting. His data also included enrollment since the 2007-08 school year, which showed a growth of 473 students over the last four years.

Currently has a student population of 1,146 students, 45 more than last year. has 963 students enrolled, has 637 students and the combined enrollment at , and totals 1,309 students.

Enrollment numbers will not become official until Oct. 15, since additional students tend to come in during the first six weeks of the school year.

First Grade Classrooms

Fyffe also researched first grade classes with 23 or more students per classroom after parents at Southern Boulevard School As of Tuesday, first grade enrollment at Southern Boulevard was at 116 students. Those students are divided into six classes of 23 students and one class of 24 students, and Southern Boulevard is the only school in the district with more than 20 students in a first grade classroom.

Fyffe's research, however, shows that the district historically had first grade classes of over 22 students in each room over the last four years. In the 2009-10 year there were three classes with 23 students, two classes with 24 students and two classes with 25 students. "This is consistent with what the district has done in the past," Fyffe said.