With a decreased student population at North, some classrooms are underutilized. Leading classrooms like this one to collect dust until they are used again.

Each day, millions of students across the country come in contact with over 1,000 people while navigating their way through the school hallways and engaging with their peers, teachers, and friends, all of which are connections that are primarily fostered in the classroom. Many do not realize the significance that their impact as a student has on the school itself, but in reality, it only takes a few students dropping a course or transferring schools to eliminate classes offered at any schooling establishment.

The population at Parkway North is steadily decreasing. According to information provided by Dr. Nathan Tyson, Director of Data Management; Research and Enrollment for the Parkway School District, student enrollment numbers have been on a steady decline for the past few years, with the lowest projected student enrollment for Parkway North sitting at next school year: 2025-2026. Then, North will see a steady increase in enrollment. 

“The 7th and 8th grade bunches are smaller, which means we have to cycle through that freshman and sophomore year with the smaller classes before the 6th graders get up to be high schoolers,”  principal David Jones said.

What used to be over fourteen hundred students, is now projected to slide under a thousand students with a steady decline until 2028.

“I think it’s an overall general decline in public education right now,” Jones said. “Maybe [due to] the popularity of private schools or a magnet school or homeschooling.”

Another reason is the population of Creve Coeur, and the surrounding area is aging. Currently, only 17% of people living in Creve Coeur are under the age of 18. 

As student numbers decrease, classes become increasingly more difficult to fill; ultimately leading to the course needing to either be absorbed by another class or withheld from students’ schedules entirely.

“We’ll take a look and see if we have enough students to make a course,”Jones said.“But if we have enough students to make the course, then we look at teacher availability and then teacher certification… so those things do make a difference.”

If teachers do not have enough students interested in the course, it becomes very likely that the course will be excluded from student schedules. With fewer classes being offered, fewer teachers will be needed at North causing teachers to be moved around the district as needed.

“Of course I’m worried about colleagues having to move to other schools because we don’t have as many classes available for them to teach,” French teacher Suzanne Johnson said. “I worry that it’ll possibly affect the classes students are allowed to take.”

When in-class options are unavailable for students, there are fortunately alternative options available.

“If we don’t have eight kids or six kids [interested in the course], that may not happen for those students, so then we’ll look for some alternatives for those students to go to that could be comparable,” Jones said. “Maybe not AP Physics. Maybe they go to AP Chem if they haven’t had that, or go to a different course. Or we look for some alternative ways; maybe they can take an online course.”

Students also have the possibility of traveling to other schools, depending on the individual.The Parkway principals are willing to work together to navigate the complex student schedules. 

“We had a student who had taken Project Engineering classes from Central High who came over here before,” principal Mr. Jones said. “There can be some opportunities for that, but on a case by case basis. Because once again, the schedule has to match up.”

Overpopulation poses a concern too, but it would take a very large growth spurt for that to happen since North can hold 3000 students. If that were to happen, it might mean boundary shifts, crowded halls, and larger class sizes. 

“If we get to [a population of] 3,000 kids…then you’ll look at districts and reallocate neighborhoods.”…, of course, North can’t hold 3,000 students,” Mr. Jones said. “So then you’ll look at districts and reallocate neighborhoods.”  

The last boundary change due to a projected growth occurred in the 2020-2021 school year. 

North’s plan to navigate these next few years is simple: wait it out and keep the best interest of its students and staff at the forefront of each decision. Like most areas, the population shifts and temporary changes need to take place.