Carson schools' numbers on the rise

Carson City schools are looking for ways to accommodate 330 more students who are attending this year.

"It may mean an additional teacher at Carson High School. It may mean some additional instructional assistants in other classrooms," said Superintendent Mary Pierczynski. "We're in the process of reviewing that."

Last year, the district had 8,433 students. On Friday, the district's official count day, 8,763 students were in attendance.

"It's more than what we thought," Pierczynski said. "We were not anticipating quite this many. We haven't had any growth for the last two years."

The majority of the increase was seen at the secondary level. The middle schools received 151 more students: 76 at Carson Middle School and 75 at Eagle Valley Middle School.

Carson High School saw an increase of 108 students and Pioneer High School's population rose from 75 to 94 students.

Pierczynski said it is easier to accommodate the growth when it is at the secondary rather than the elementary level.

"The beauty of it is they don't all land in one classroom," she said. "They're all spread out over a wide enough area that our facilities are OK."

Ferd Mariani, principal of Eagle Valley Middle School, said the school is adjusting well.

"There's a little bit of a difference in the hallways," he said. "Overall, we're accommodating them pretty well."

Rotating lunch schedules into three periods has also helped ease crowding.

"That's really worked out so kids aren't crowded during lunchtime," he said.

However, Mariani said if the population continues to grow, they will have to look into ways to expand facility space.

The elementary schools saw an increase of 52 students.