With the explosive growth in the Gluckstadt area, Madison County school officials are keeping a close eye on the increasing student population and how to accommodate it.
If growth dictates, officials will explore the possibility of adding a new school in the area.
The Gluckstadt growth directly affects the Germantown school zone, which includes Madison Crossing Elementary, Mannsdale Elementary, Mannsdale Upper, Germantown Middle and Germantown High School.
Each new home brings approximately 1.2 students to the school, according to Superintendent Dr. Ronnie McGehee.
For example, the new 600-acre development, which will be located on Stribling and Dewees roads, will include 523 homes within the next seven to 10 years.
“That’s a seven to 10-year buildout period,” McGehee said. “The general public sees it as just a total number, but that doesn’t happen immediately. That’s a process. That’s why they phase those things in. Our history and study of this for the past 15 years has been that each house will produce about 1.2 students on average.”
To track the residential growth and the inevitable effect on the student population, the Madison County School District hired McKibben Demographics of South Carolina to do a full demographic study.
Currently, the Germantown school zone has a total enrollment of 4,051 students.
“In the Germantown zone, we’ll see an uptick over the next 10 years, somewhere above 15 percent,” McGehee said. “The Ridgeland zone has a little uptick prediction over the next several years, three to four percent. The Madison zone is plateauing.”
The Velma Jackson zone is predicted to decrease within the next 10 years by approximately four percent, and overall district enrollment has a 2.5 percent increase expectation by 2028.
Increases and decreases are tracked through indicators like economic changes and demographic changes.
“We have been proactive in our physical plans for the last 20 years,” McGehee said.
The latest school construction was Mannsdale Upper Elementary, which was completed in 2016.
The last school bond was issued in 2008 in the amount of $8 million. Part of the funding was used to build Germantown High School and its accompanying facilities.
“We strive to keep the student-teacher ratio under the maximum amounts allowed by the state,” McGehee said.
At the elementary level, the state allows for a maximum of one teacher for every 25 students.
At the middle school level, the maximum is one teacher for every 25 in each classroom, with each teacher having no more than a total of 150 between all classes.
