With the expansion of Interstate 70 and American Foods Group planning to open in Wright City by the end of the year, the Wright City R-II School Board is projecting major growth within the community …
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With the expansion of Interstate 70 and American Foods Group planning to open in Wright City by the end of the year, the Wright City R-II School Board is projecting major growth within the community and school district.
RSP and Associates, a company that strives to bring planning expertise to school districts, confirmed the board’s beliefs that more kids will be coming to the Wright City school district in the next few years. These projections are what caused the board to vote in favor of moving fifth grade to the middle school for the 2024-25 school year.
“I think we’re as ready as we can be but the growth is coming and we’ve been waiting for it a long time,” Superintendent Christopher Berger said.
The RSP report forecasted that district wide enrollment will increase by about 370 students by 2028-29. The middle school will see the biggest increase in enrollment by about 220 students.
Class sizes will remain around the same size for the upcoming school year, but challenges are expected to come within the next few years. The board is trying to get ahead of these challenges with their master plan.
The board also examined data that was indicating growth. District enrollment increased by 47 students from last year and the graduating senior classes are smaller than incoming kindergarten classes.
Wright City also has a historically positive migration trend, another indicator of student growth. The only trend that suggested student loss was the slightly declining birth rate in Warren County. However, RSP noted that growth is still to be expected.
“AFG is going to have such an impact and we are trying to get in front of that growth,” Berger said. “There’s no hiding from it but I am proud of the planning we did with the master plan.”
AFG plans to be fully open by the end of 2024 and add 1,300 local jobs to the region. In addition, in 2023-24, 111 single-family units and 236 multi-family units were built within the district.
The plan has also projected that an average class size will increase by 26 students in the 2028-29 school year.
Wright City is getting ahead of the growth with the new high school, moving fifth grade to the middle school and adding four classrooms to East Elementary.
“It’s right here,” Berger said. “We’re right at the cusp of it.”
