The Tooele County School District expects roughly 13,000 students to show up for school on Monday morning as a new school year kicks off.

“We had about 13,400 in the fall of 2008,” Linares said. “But the drop in students was anticipated due to the opening of the charter school.”

The projected enrollment figures match the numbers used in June to prepare the budget for the current year. Back in June the district projected a loss of 600 students to the charter school, along with a gain of 200 students through move-ins and growth, for a net loss of 400 students.

As a result of the decreased enrollment, the district will have 10 fewer teachers than it did last year. Still, it hired 53 new teachers to replace staff lost to retirement and out-migration, and to fill 15 new positions created mainly by the opening of Stansbury High School.

“We are fully staffed and ready,” said Terry Linares, Tooele County School District superintendent.

Teachers from fire-damaged Grantsville Elementary have all been assigned to new classrooms or portables at either Willow Elementary or Grantsville Junior High. The portables are all in place and ready to go with power connected, according to district officials.

This is the first year in 12 years that the district’s opening enrollment is predicted to be lower than the previous year. Last year, enrollment was up by 600 students and 20 new teaching positions were added to the district, some of those for the opening of Settlement Canyon Elementary.

As of Tuesday, Aug. 18, enrollment at Stansbury High School was 1,305 students — slightly ahead of the 1,270 that was originally forecast.

“The enrollment jump did cause us to hire a couple more teachers at Stansbury High,” Linares said.

Last year, the week before school opened, Settlement Canyon Elementary experienced a rush of open-enrollment requests that boosted enrollment to 643 students — well over the 460 expected.

The jump caused some teachers in the district to be shuffled around at the last minute.

“We have not seen any enrollment jump like that this year,” Linares said. “However, it is really difficult to predict enrollment. Some parents sign their children up for school and they never show. Then we always have last-minute enrollments.”

For the last two years, Rose Springs Elementary absorbed a large amount of new students from growth in Stansbury Park. Last year, the enrollment at Rose Springs peaked at over 900 students in a building designed for 650.

In November, the district held boundary review meetings in the Stansbury Park area. As a result, district officials will be moving students from Benson Mill, Delgado Estates, and Lake Point from Rose Springs to Stansbury Elementary this fall. The new boundaries should alleviate much of the overcrowding at Rose Springs, according to Linares.

Teachers have been back at work since Monday morning when they gathered at Tooele High School to learn about “professional learning communities,” a new movement in education that focuses on improving student performance by creating an environment where teachers work together as a group to analyze test data and prepare instructional plans.

“Literacy and math, along with developing professional learning communities, will be our themes for this year,” Linares said. “Professional learning communities focus on student learning and results. Teachers will receive training on the collaborative process that will result in more deliberate teamwork with a laser-like focus on instruction.”

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com