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Breakout:

Preliminary District 25 high school and middle school enrollment as of Thursday:

Highland High: 1,343

Century High: 1,055

Pocatello High: 1,144

Hawthorne Middle: 545

Franklin Middle: 686

Irving Middle: 530

Alameda Center (includes New Horizon High School and Kinport Academy Middle School): 183

- Numbers are about 200 more than projections, although district officials said they will likely drop in the coming weeks.

Breakout 2: School District 25 Elementary School preliminary enrollment is 144 more than projected. The total overload at all the elementary schools Thursday was 87 students. Most of them were in kindergarten through third grade, officials said.

By Casey Santee

csantee@journalnet.com

POCATELLO -- A small group of first-graders started the 2008-2009 school year at Syringa Elementary Thursday morning only to be bused to their new school, Lewis and Clark Elementary, a short while later.

In the coming days, Syringa Principal Miffy Lane expects to be receiving buses of students of various grades from other District 25 elementary schools.

The shuffle is intended to relieve overcrowding that's affected classes from kindergarten through sixth grade during the past few years.

The shuffling has been fueled by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Students in schools deemed as needing improvement by the state have the option of obtaining supplemental tutoring in their current school, or transferring to another school of their parents' choice, provided there is space available.

"We were able to place some requests for school choice, but we weren't able to place all of them because of space," said Mary Vagner, District 25 superintendent. "We have had to move some more children around. Our numbers at the elementary are up 144 children from last spring."

Vagner said that on the first day of school, a few students missed their busses, but other than that, the day went well.

Lane said Thursday was the smoothest opening day she can remember. She said when the bell rang to mark the start of the year, all the students were already in their seats.

"Students came in and found their names on the class lists," Lane said. "We had parents and staff here to help them."

She said the majority of parents registered their children online Aug. 7. However, seven waited until the last minute, registering before school started Thursday. Lane, who has been the principal at the school for 17 years, said Syringa immediately placed them into classes.

Parents of the school's kindergartners will meet with teachers Friday and Monday, and the students' first day together will be Tuesday.

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