School enrollment remains steady

RITZVILLE – Student enrollment in Lind-Ritzville schools is steady.

Total enrollment for all schools in the Lind-Ritzville cooperative clocked in at 588 students this year, according to schools Superintendent Don Vanderholm. That’s in line with previous years, both pre- and post-COVID restrictions.

Since 2018, enrollment numbers for the entire school district — comprising Lind and Ritzville elementary schools, the combined middle school and Lind-Ritzville High School — have fluctuated between 588 and 610 students.

Records show that in 2022, total enrollment was 608 students. In 2021, that number was 588.

In 2020, it was 550; in 2019, 588; in 2018, 610.

Since forming an academic cooperative in August of 2012, Lind and Ritzville School Districts have operated independent elementary schools for pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade.

Lind and Ritzville students in grades 6-8 attend middle school in Lind; students in grades 9-12 attend Lind-Ritzville High School.

At Lind Elementary School, this fall’s enrollment included kindergarten classes of 28 students; first grade, 14; second grade, 13; third grade, 17; fourth grade, 13; and fifth grade, 15. Total enrollment was 100 students.

At Ritzville Grade School, enrollment totaled 172, including kindergarten classes of 43 students; first grade, 28; second grade, 21; third grade, 24; fourth grade, 33; and fifth grade, 23.

Lind-Ritzville Middle School had 44 students in the sixth-grade, 55 in seventh-grade, and 51 in eighth-grade — a total of 150. High school enrollment was 166 students. That number included 45 freshmen, 48 sophomores, 39 juniors and 34 seniors.

Although enrollment numbers have remained steady in recent years, totals have declined over the decades.

In September 1998 total enrollment for elementary, middle school and high schools in both towns was 693.

In June of 2013 — the first school year of the newly-formed academic cooperative — The Journal reported that 45 students walked across the stage at Gilson Gymnasium to receive their diplomas. They were the first graduating class of Lind-Ritzville High School. Last spring, that number was 25.