By Anne Marie Amacher
Although overall enrollment is down by 25 students in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Davenport, secondary level enrollment has increased this academic year by 18 students.
Assumption High School in Davenport saw an increase of 14 students this year, President Andy Craig said. He credits the Family Tuition Plan, School Tuition Organization and support from the grade schools for maintaining and helping to increase enrollment. “We also have a lot of great programs here at Assumption,” he said.
John F. Kennedy Catholic School in Davenport has seen eight consecutive years of growth in enrollment. “In the 50th anniversary of Our Lady of Victory Parish, we achieved a record enrollment for preschool to eighth-grade students,” said Principal Chad Steimle. The previous records were the 1993-94 and 1994-95 school years when 469 students were enrolled in grades preschool through eight. This year’s official count is 475 students.
Steimle said students have been moving into the area; upper grades have gained students, but the largest enrollment increases have been at the lower-grade level. “We have had larger classes enter in kindergarten than graduated in eighth grade. If we can keep kindergarten at least 45 students per year, (every year) we can have enrollment growth for probably at least another five years.”
JFK’s enrollment growth mirrors the growth in financial assistance through the Family Tuition Plan, which gets its resources from the School Tuition Organization and a Scott County Catholic school capital campaign called Embracing Our Future, Steimle said…
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