Birmingham city schools seeing more student enrollment than this time last year

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - WBRC has been tracking Birmingham City Schools’ attendance since the start of the year.

Turnout was low to start, but we’re told attendance is picking up now. On the first day of school, Birmingham City Schools had about 13,000 students in class. Now, Superintendent Dr. Mark Sullivan, said they are at more than 19,400 students enrolled. He said that is more than they were expecting to have around this time.

Dr. Sullivan says on this day last year, they had 300 less students in class. They are hoping to see around 20,000 students enroll before the end of the September. Sullivan says the district is working to get these kids into the classroom. He said each school is calling parents that have not brought their students yet and are trying to make registration as easy as possible.

Sullivan says if they stay at this pace, the district will likely have more students enrolled than last year.

“I’m seeing students coming back to the school system,” Sullivan said. “I think a lot of that is due to the programs we have at Birmingham City Schools... We have a lot of opportunities that I think are drawing parents in and I think our enrollment will be higher than last year, which is different from what we typically see.”

Sullivan said what they typically see is anywhere from 500 to 600 students leaving the district every year. He said that’s been a trend over the last 20 years.

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