With the opening of school just over a month away, Superintendent Dede Galdston said the number of elementary school students is expected to be more than 100 higher than last year.
At the July 27 School Committee meeting, Galdston said the current number of registered students is 1,474 at the elementary level.
“That’s about 150 more students than we had last year,” Galdston said.
The largest will be Hosmer Elementary School, with 632 students, but that number is lower than last year. Lowell Elementary School will have the largest number ever, at 478. Cunniff Elementary School currently has 364 registered students.
“So we’re very excited about the fact that people want to come to Watertown,” Galdston said. “Our class sizes are great. We’ve managed this very well, and we’re not concerned.”
Galston said the schools have balanced out after changes to attendance boundaries. The changes were made because some schools had full classes for certain grade levels.
“I didn’t mean to bring that up as a concern. It’s actually just pride, but it’s also the fact that we have balanced this very well,” Galdston said. “That redistricting that we did three years ago is finally doing what it’s supposed to do: relieving the pressure on the Hosmer, increasing enrollment at the Cunniff, and then building up what the Lowell should be at, which is four classrooms per grade level.”