Lawrence school headcount delayed a day

The official headcount needs to be taken on a full school day

Lawrence public schools won’t participate in today’s statewide enrollment count, Supt. Randy Weseman said.

“We have a shortened day because of our collaboration time,” Weseman said this morning. “We have permission from the state to wait until tomorrow.”

Students are released early in the district on Wednesdays so teachers have time to meet and collaborate on class plans, he said.

The official headcount, which needs to be taken on a full school day, is used to determine how much state financial aid is distributed to each of the state’s school districts.

An unofficial district count taken the first full day of the school year, Aug. 21, showed there were 115 more students than on the first full day in 2005, or 10,225 compared to 10,110.

The Aug. 21 headcount showed an increase of 160 more students at the Lawrence Virtual School, which had 427 students.

The early count showed the biggest enrollment drop in the district was at Free State High School, which was down 80 students to 1,202. Lawrence High was down 13 students from a year ago with 1,311 students on Aug. 21.