FREEMAN PUBLIC ENROLLMENT UP BIG

JEREMY WALTNER  – PUBLISHER

A significant jump in the number of students attending school in Freeman Public School District 33-1 has Freeman’s overall enrollment as high as it has been in more than a decade. According to preliminary numbers released by the Freeman Public business office early this week, enrollment has climbed from 335 at the start of last year to 374 this year. Thirteen more students at Tschetter and Wolf Creek colonies account for part of that growth; an incoming kindergarten class of 29 is five more than graduated last spring; and seven of the 13 classes in town have more students than at the start of the 2020-21 term.

Freeman Public’s smallest cluster of classes is at the top, with 54 students making up the sophomore, junior and senior classes. The largest cluster is at the bottom, with 87 students making up the kindergarten, first- and second-grade classrooms.

This is the largest enrollment at Freeman Public since the fall of 2011, when 378 students were enrolled. That year, there were 26 seniors, 35 juniors, 31 sophomores and 33 freshmen.

FREEMAN ACADEMY

Across town at Freeman Academy, 73 students in grades K-12 were enrolled at the start of this year, according to numbers released by the office of the enrollment director. That is down two from the start of last year.

Freeman Academy’s largest numbers are at the upper level, with 10 students enrolled in each of the sophomore, junior and senior classes. The smallest group is at the middle school level, with 14 students enrolled in grades 5-8.