Stable enrollment patterns projected for schools in East Cobb

Cobb school enrollment
Cyclical school enrollment growth patterns that began in Cobb County in the 1950s are continuing again, according to demographic projections prepared for the Cobb County School District.

After decades of continuing growth, enrollment projections for public schools in East Cobb are expected to remain relatively stable in the near future.

A demographic report presented to the Cobb Board of Education in February showed that areas of the highest growth in Cobb County continue to be in the Smyrna and South Cobb areas.

That’s the focal point of new and near-future construction projects in the Cobb County School District.

Pockets of increasing enrollment in East Cobb have resulted in expansions and new classroom space in selected schools.

The newly adopted Cobb Education VI SPLOST calls for the replacement of the main classroom building at Sprayberry High School, as well as expansions and additions at Dickerson and Dodgen middle schools, and Bells Ferry, Kincaid, Mt. Bethel, Murdock, Sope Creek and Tritt elementary schools.

Dr. James Wilson, a former Cobb and Fulton superintendent, told school board members in February that Cobb County is back to where the suburbanization trends began in the 1950s.

“It just moved around,” Wilson said. “It has moved all the way around, and it has moved back to the south.”

The counterclockwise trends then shifted to East Cobb through the 1980s and then to North Cobb and West Cobb.

He showed a county land-use map showing that most of the undeveloped areas of Cobb are in western and southern areas. Cobb commission Districts 2 and 3, which include East Cobb, have less than 5,000 acres of undeveloped land combined.

“We’re running out of land,” Wilson said, noting that continuing the kind of large-scale residential development of previous times, including Chimney Lakes in East Cobb “is just simply not there.”

He cited 2020 Census statistics showing a sharp drop in county permits from the start of the economic recession in 2007.

“We’re not going to get back to the building of 2003 and 1998 and so on,” Wilson said.

CCSD Enrollment

Wilson also showed board members a chart (above) breaking down school-age groups in each high school cluster, with the Campbell High School attendance zone experiencing the biggest increases.

These figures too are based on 2020 Census data; the high numbers of ages 15-19 in the North Cobb zone are because of students enrolled at Kennesaw State University.

“This allow us to plan accordingly, Cobb Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said during the presentation, “where we might need a new high school, a new elementary school, and what the trend is telling us about families.

“They may start out in one area and then relocate to a different area. So this is very important data for us to be able to utilize.”

Wilson also showed enrollment figures by school from the start of COVID-19. The Cobb school district enrollment has fallen to around 107,000 from the nearly 112,000 students pre-pandemic.

You can watch a replay of the enrollment presentation by clicking here and then going to the Feb. 10 work session; the presentation begins around the 53-minute mark.

You can read through the presentation slides by clicking here.

The tables below show five-year enrollment figures at East Cobb schools, starting with the disrupted 2019-20 school year, including the present 2021-22 school year, and projections for the 2023-24 school year.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Capacity 19-20 21-22 23-24
Addison 662 628 581 570
Bells Ferry 712 743 719 754
Blackwell 837 729 641 677
Brumby 1162 957 956 948
Davis 800 601 610 647
East Side 1087 1240 1128 1063
Eastvalley 562 779 673 766
Garrison Mill 700 674 677 642
Keheley 600 477 413 453
Kincaid 762 678 578 710
Mt. Bethel 937 1098 992 1094
Mountain View 962 843 773 827
Murdock 962 987 935 933
Nicholson 637 480 406 468
Powers Ferry 900 411 391 422
Rocky Mount 612 613 562 557
Sedalia Park 912 732 621 605
Shallowford Falls 962 681 591 711
Sope Creek 1162 1157 1058 1131
Timber Ridge 612 560 482 528
Tritt 937 919 807 907
CCSD Totals 56,702 49,091 45,943 49,901

 

MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Capacity 19-20 21-22 23-24
Daniell 1175 1015 906 1104
Dickerson 1187 1307 1208 1354
Dodgen 1187 1297 1208 1246
East Cobb 1387 1458 1297 1355
Hightower Trail 1012 1068 1022 1083
Mabry 1162 951 887 958
McCleskey 937 708 630 657
Simpson 962 899 868 858
CCSD Totals 28,770 26,533 25,206 25,558

 

HIGH SCHOOLS

Capacity 19-20 21-22 23-24
Kell 2025 1502 1496 1483
Lassiter 2087 2070 1945 2286
Pope 1912 1943 1855 1790
Sprayberry 2087 1778 1890 1957
Walton 2812 2655 2689 2757
Wheeler 2187 2179 2296 2534
CCSD Totals 36,168 35,220 35,949 36,881

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