Despite the economic downturn in Wyoming, enrollment in Powell schools is holding steady.

As of this month, 1,810 students are enrolled in Park County School District No. 1 — down just 0.49 percent, or nine kids, from a year ago.

“I thought that the economy might have a larger impact in the area than apparently it did, as far as school-age children,” said district superintendent Kevin Mitchell, adding, “I know there were folks who lost their jobs, but it doesn’t look like it affected enrollment here.”

In fact, this school year’s count is slightly higher than it was on the last day of school in May, when there were 1,799 students enrolled.

About half of the school districts in the state have reported fewer students this year; most significantly, Campbell County lost 449 students from the previous year, according to the Gillette News Record.

While enrollment remained steady at most grade levels in Powell schools, kindergarten numbers dropped significantly this year. With 116 kids, it’s the smallest kindergarten class Powell has seen in 10 years. The count is also 25 percent lower than last year, when there were 156 kindergarteners.

That group of students advanced to first grade this year and picked up several more kids for a total of 161 students, making first grade the largest class in the Powell school district.

It’s unclear whether this year’s drastic decrease in kindergarteners is an anomaly or if it signals a new trend of decreasing enrollment in future years.

“We’re not exactly sure what’s going to go on,” Mitchell said. “Maybe now we’re going to have a declining enrollment. We just don’t know.”

The Powell school district’s enrollment boom started a decade ago with the Class of 2019 — this year’s sophomore class. Since then, the district has consistently seen class sizes in the 145 range, Mitchell said.

The smaller number of kindergarteners this year didn’t impact the district’s overall enrollment because, as Mitchell noted, other grade levels remained steady or gained students from a year ago.

All enrollment figures are as of Oct. 3. The Wyoming Department of Education uses October enrollment in various reports and to determine funding for school districts.

After first-grade’s 161 students, the next largest class is fifth grade, with 153 students, closely followed by sixth grade with 151.

Powell’s smallest class is 12th grade, which has 110 seniors, followed by Powell High School’s 117 juniors.

However, this year’s freshman and sophomore classes — with 143 and 145 students, respectively — are some of the largest the high school has seen.

Overall, enrollment is up at PHS this fall with 514 students, compared to 472 last year, said Jim Kuhn, PHS principal.

“The numbers are good — stretching us a little bit,” Kuhn said in an update to the school board Tuesday evening.

To accommodate increasing enrollment, an additional English/Spanish teacher and special education teacher/case manager were hired at PHS this year. Kuhn said additional staff may be needed for next year.

It’s likely additional computers will be needed in the future as well. The district purchased Lenovo laptops for all PHS students and staff a few years ago.

“Due to increased enrollment and devices that have been broken and were not replaced, we do not have many extra devices available,” Kuhn wrote in his presentation to the board.

PHS wanted to ensure all students were using the same devices, so all of the teachers’ Lenovos were collected to use for students; teachers are using Dell devices instead, Kuhn said.

Due to the enrollment growth, it’s likely PHS will need roughly 600 or more devices for students and staff when the Lenovos are replaced, Kuhn said.

Superintendent Mitchell said it’s difficult to know what will happen with enrollment in future years, since it isn’t clear what has driven enrollment growth over the past decade.

“I don’t have a story for you,” he said. “There’s only assumptions.”

Some of the increase may be due to people working in Cody but living in Powell. Mitchell said if Cody Labs expands, that could bring more jobs and people to the area.

“We’ve always thought that workforce might drift over to Powell, just because of cost of living — especially housing,” Mitchell said. “It might eventually have an impact.”

A new drone business relocating to the area also could bring more jobs and draw families here, he said.

“We have such a nice community that has a lot to offer — the college is nice, the school system is good,” Mitchell said. “We’re right for some people moving in with the kind of living that Powell has to offer.”