After the Oct. 3 student count, Oxford Community Schools are up by 612 students from a year ago, making the total number of students 5,688.
Of the 5,688 students, 1,317 are school of choice (up 763 from last year) and 794 students are enrolled in the Virtual Academy program, which is 507 more on-line students than last year.
Two years ago Oxford Schools disclosed a five-year plan to grow the virtual academy to fifty percent of the student population, according to Superintendent Dr. William Skilling.
‘Fifty percent will be seated students (5,000) and fifty percent will be virtual students, for a total of 10,000 students,? he said. ‘Based on our enormous success these past two years, I have no doubt we can achieve our enrollment goals in the next three years.?
A comparison of last year shows of the five elementary schools, Clear Lake had the biggest increase of 41 students and Daniel Axford had the greatest decrease of 20 students. Lakeville saw a decrease of four students, while Leonard saw an increase of 16 students and Oxford Elementary showed 21 students to the postive. Approximately 1,069 students attend Oxford Middle School, which is 20 more than last year and Oxford High School shows 13 less students at 1,458.
‘Bear in mind the attached numbers are head count only, and not the FTE (full time equivalent) from which state funding is calculated,? said Communications Coordinator Linda Lewis in an e-mail to the Leader. ‘Audited FTE’s will not be available until March.?