OTTUMWA, Iowa — The Ottumwa Community School District is seeing record growth in enrollment from last year to this one.
Michael McGrory, the superintendent of the school district, said so far this year 200 more students enrolled, continuing a trend they've seen over the last four years.
The new students bring the district's total population to 5,000 students. That's the most students enrolled in the district since 1998.
McGrory said some of the students come from 30 miles away. While the increase in students isn't necessarily a surprise, it is unique in its own way.
"For most districts our size where [the city] is not growing, they're tending to see declining enrollment," McGrory said. "And our enrollment puts us in probably the top five largest in [the] state as far as increase."
Maria Lantz, the director of curriculum and instruction, said this new growth is partly due to word of mouth, as parents hear of new initiatives the district implemented, like "Be the Best."
The initiative invests in new facilities and programs, aiming to make Ottumwa a destination for all parents and students.
"It really asks our kids to do the heavy lifting and the thinking and that's something that they can do to sustain their learning," Lantz said.
The school district said they hired 38 new teachers this year to keep up with the increase and to help class sizes remain between 16 and 22 students.