Craig Daily Press

Craig’s student population appears to be growing from the bottom up.

That’s good news for the Moffat County School District over the long term, “because that means long-term continued growth,” said Zack Allen, Sunset Elementary School principal.

Still, that means that first- and second-grade classes at Craig elementary schools are already full or are nearing capacity.

Students still can register for school at the elementary, intermediate, middle and high school levels. However, school administrators urge parents to sign up their children for school before classes start Sept. 2.

“We’ll take registration, the earlier the better,” Allen said. “The closer we get to school actually starting, the more of a scramble it is to get everybody placed and all the paperwork … in order.”

Sunset Elementary School has full enrollment in its first- and second-grade classes and looks to add a fourth section of kindergarten.

East Elementary School is seeing a similar trend.

“We have pretty full classes,” said Christina Henrie, East Elementary secretary.

Normally, East Elementary is a three-track school, meaning that each grade has three teachers.

Last year, however, the school added a fourth section to its kindergarten and first-grade classes. The school plans to add a fourth second-grade track this year to accommodate last year’s larger-than-normal first-grade class.

Students who live within an elementary school’s attendance area are allowed to enroll at that school, even in full classes. For instance, Henrie said, if a student lives in the region allotted to Sunset Elementary School enrollment, the school must make room for that student, regardless of how full its classes are.

Enrollment in classes filled to capacity is closed to students who wish to enroll at the school from another attendance area. However, the situation becomes complex if classes at a school within the student’s attendance area are also full.

That situation appears to be playing out between Sunset and Ridgeview elementary schools. Allen said Ridgeview Elementary has similar enrollment numbers for its first- and second-grade levels.

School administrators will continue to monitor enrollment numbers at both elementary schools before deciding whether to add another class section at either school, Allen said.