After four years, Marysville school officials felt they had a pretty good handle on estimating how many outgoing eighth graders would enroll at the Early College High School (ECHS).
Since the building opened in 2014, yearly class enrollment numbers have hovered around 150 students, with the remaining 250 or more students opting to attend the Marysville High School (MHS). This level of enrollment for ECHS keeps the total student body at the building in the neighborhood of 600 students.
And then the class of 2022 came into the picture. Next year’s ECHS freshman class bloomed to about 235 students and left officials scrambling.
“It was something that was not anticipated,” ECHS principal Kathy McKinniss said. “It’s a good problem to have, but it’s a challenge.”
Officials were left scratching their heads about how to handle the influx of students. McKinniss said there were discussions about adjusting staff levels between the ECHS and the Marysville High School to accommodate the swollen class.
But if the trend continued at that level, in a few years the school could face an enrollment eclipsing 900 students. And while the building has handled that many students in the past (it served stints as a high school and middle school in the past), Superintendent Diane Mankins explained that the current open design of the building would make it difficult to physically house that many students.
Mankins said discussions on the topic led officials to feel they could not sustain incoming classes larger than about 180 students.
“We didn’t want to start into a level that we couldn’t keep,” Mankins said.
In January, eighth grade students toured the MHS and ECHS buildings and administrators pitched the highlights of each school. Educators were able to show students the best of what they had to offer.
“We say all the time, ‘You have two good choices,’” McKinniss said.
But to address the bulging student population problem at ECHS, administrators had to rub away the shine of the school and figure out which students made their decision based on educational opportunities.
McKinniss set up three nights of group meetings and asked students and their parents to attend one session. She and her staff had to be “real” about the type of education offered at ECHS.
The school offers three specializations (information technology, bio-med/health science and manufacturing/engineering) for students who want to get a jumpstart on a career pathway.
“You really should like one (of the pathways),” McKinniss told potential students.
She said the groups were told that if students were seeking more broad educational experiences, MHS, with its diverse course offerings, would be a better fit.
In the end 60 students changed their mind and opted to enroll at MHS, leaving the Early College High School with an incoming freshman population of 175. The number is high but manageable according to McKinniss.
Officials are still trying to determine exactly what led to the spike this year, especially in light of some changes that were put in place to level the selection process between the two schools.
According to MHS principal Tom Cochran, the school is implementing pathways of its own in the areas of ag science and business. Areas being explored for possible future pathways include logistics/supply chain management, insurance, veterinary technology and turf management.
Also, in years past, prospective ECHS student were asked to register their intent to attend that building, with everyone else defaulting to Marysville High School. This year, all eighth-grade students were asked to register their choice of which school they wanted to attend.
McKinniss said she believes some students might have “hedged their bets” in picking ECHS, meaning students knew there was a limited capacity so they chose Early College because they could always change their mind later. But, if a student initially chose MHS and changed their mind, there might not be space available, she said.
In the end, McKinniss was glad she and her staff were able to talk with families to determine the best fit for each individual student, even if that fit was not her building.
“I think we did a pretty good job of being clear about our school,” McKinniss said.