ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – When students returned to class in St. Johns County schools last Wednesday, there were 1,850 more of them than district officials expected.
St. Johns County has Florida's highest performing school by most criteria, and continues to be one of the fastest growing in the state, as well. This year's first-day student population of 34,906 was 5.3 percent higher than last year's first-day count.
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The number does not include those students enrolled in night programs or kindergarten, which hadn't started when these numbers were pulled.
The high school student count was 11,016 with 2,259 students at Bartram Trail High School, 1,958 at Creekside High School, 1,307 at Pedro Menendez High School, 2,193 at Allen D. Nease High School, 1,663 at Ponte Vedra High School and 1,636 at St. Augustine High School. There were also 270 students in attendance at St. Johns Technical High School (SJTHS).
Middle school attendance totaled 7,101, with student headcounts ranging from 660 at Sebastian Middle School to 1,334 at Pacetti Bay Middle School. The other first day figures were Alice B. Landrum Middle School with 1,134, Fruit Cove Middle School with 1,165, R. J. Murray Middle School with 700, Gamble Rogers Middle School with 857 and Switzerland Point Middle School with 1,251.
The district’s K-8 schools totaled 4,180. Liberty Pines Academy had a first day headcount of 1,372, Patriot Oaks Academy with 1,362 and Valley Ridge Academy with 1,446.
The elementary school population totaled 12,008; however, this count includes approximately 33 percent of the kindergarten population since schools stagger the kindergarten start date over a three-day period. Another 331 students are enrolled at the district’s alternative, charter and Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) schools.
First Coast Technical College has 343 students enrolled in its adult education and dual enrollment programs at the St. Augustine, Palatka, Barge Port and North campuses.