It’s back to school in Wilkinson County

Teachers and staff are already back, and now it’s time to bring on the kids.

The first day of school for Wilkinson County School District students is all set for Friday, Aug. 1.

Angela James has been front-and-center during back-to-school activities as the district’s new superintendent. This is the first time in 15 years that someone other than Aaron Geter has led the WCSD into a new school year. Geter retired as superintendent in June.

James initially retired from the WCSD in 2020 after 30 years before taking a job with the Georgia Department of Education. She then applied for the WCSD superintendent position earlier this year, and the School Board ultimately named James as its sole finalist and new superintendent.

The size of this school year’s student body won’t be known until October, when the Georgia Department conducts its Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) “head count” for every public school in Georgia. Regardless, student enrollment in the WCSD is roughly half of what it was two or three decades ago. The decline has been more pronounced at the middle school and elementary levels. During the March 1997 FTE count, there were 483 students recorded at WCMS. Fast forward to March 2024, and that number was 227.

Also, the state recorded 152 fourth graders at WCES in March 1997. In March 2024, that number was all the way down to 62.

The enrollment trend lines in the WCSD have reflected the demographic trend lines in Wilkinson County, as a whole. Although the county’s overall census population has declined slightly in the last few decades, its 17-and-under population has declined significantly. In 1997, for example, there were 2,864 children (17 and under) living in the county, according to Census data estimates. Fast forward to 2022, and that number was 1,899. In other words, the number of children living in Wilkinson County decreased by one-third in a span of 25 years.