Education by the numbers

If you combined all the 9th, 10th and 11th grade students in the high schools of Southwest Nebraska, there still would be seven school districts in Nebraska with more enrollment.

That numerical comparison followed the release last week of enrollment figures by the Nebraska School Activities Association. The latest student numbers, which will determine state activities' classifications for 2004, show that the 15 high schools in eight Southwest Nebraska counties have a combined total of 1,416 students in this year's freshman, sophomore and junior classes.

That compares with Nebraska student totals ranging from a high of 1,948 at Omaha Central to lows of 19 in Arthur and 3 at Omaha Concordia.

Reflecting a steady decline in student numbers -- dating all the way back to the 1930s -- the enrollment of 9th, 10th and 11th graders in Southwest Nebraska's high schools now ranges from a high of 370 in McCook to a low of 36 in Culbertson.

The complete listing for the southwestern schools -- including those located in Chase, Dundy, Hayes, Hitchcock, Frontier, Red Willow, Gosper and Furnas counties -- is as follows: (The school is listed first, followed by the the 9th, 10th and 11th grade student totals)

McCook, 370; Imperial, 158; Oxford Southern Valley, 121; Indianola/Bartley Southwest, 100; Elwood, 77; Arapahoe, 76; Benkelman Dundy County, 70; Cambridge, 70; Eustis-Farnam, 68; Curtis Medicine Valley, 68; Wauneta-Palisade, 63; Hayes Center, 52; Stratton/Trenton Lakeside Central, 46; Maywood, 40; and Culbertson, 36.

Striking by their absence are the high schools which have closed, including Haigler, Parks, Max, Stockville, Bartley, Indianola, Red Willow, Edison, Beaver City, Wilsonville, Marion, Danbury, Lebanon, Beaver Valley and the once separate, and now combined, schools at Wauneta, Palisade, Eustis and Farnam.

So far -- despite hard feelings when mergers take place -- Southwest Nebraska has done a pretty good job of adjusting to the decline in student numbers. Red Willow County is evidence of this. Once upon a time, there were seven high schools in the county, namely those at Marion, Danbury, Lebanon, Bartley, Indianola, Red Willow and McCook. The schools then evolved into Beaver Valley, Republican Valley, Twin Valley and McCook, and, finally, just this year, into the consolidated school to be known as the Southwest High Roughriders, as well as the long-standing District 17 in McCook.

Now, the citizens of Hitchcock County face similar challenges, as the patrons of the Culbertson, Stratton and Trenton school districts are finding it difficult to stretch their dollars far enough to cover all their educational costs.

It's often said that numbers don't lie. And they don't. But how we interpret those numbers -- and how we react to them -- remains one this area's most formidable challenges.