FARMINGTON — The principals of Academy Hill School and G.D. Cushing School in Wilton and Mt. Blue Middle School in Farmington recently presented overviews of their schools to the Regional School Unit 9 Board of Directors. The reports are part of an ongoing “State of our Schools” series which includes details of student enrollment and participation in free and reduced lunch.

Principal James Black presented the Mt. Blue Middle School report at the Feb. 12 meeting. He reported a 9.6 percent enrollment increase over the last four years. In 2015, there were 488 students enrolled. There are currently 540 students enrolled.  Forty-five percent of students take part in the federal free and reduced lunch program.

Despite the increase in enrollment, the number of absences has decreased, he reported.

During the first semester of 2016-2017, there were 568 absences recorded among a population of 504 students. There were 610 absences recorded and 521 students enrolled during the first semester of 2017-2018. During the first semester of the current year, there were 548 absences among 538 students.

Mt. Blue Middle School implemented Strive for 5 last fall. The initiative encourages students to tally five or fewer absences in a school year and offers incentives to student groups with the best attendance record each week.

Keith Acedo reviewed Cushing data at the Tuesday, Jan. 22 director’s meeting. He presented the Academy Hill report during the Tuesday, Feb. 12 meeting.

Enrollment at the Wilton schools has remained level, Acedo reported. Cushing, which serves Pre-K through first grade students has an enrollment of 127 students for the 2018-2019 year. That is two more than the previous year. Similarly, Academy Hill, which serves students in grades two through five, currently has 188 students enrolled. Last year, the enrollment was 186.

Both schools saw a dramatic decrease in the percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunch. At Cushing, just over 52 percent of the student body were recipients of the federal program in 2017-2018. This year, 46.5 percent of students are enrolled in the program.

Nearly 60 percent of Academy Hill students took part in the program last year. This year, 51 percent of students are enrolled.

dmenear@thefranklinjournal.com