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12,000 Students And Counting! Dickinson ISD Has Grown Over the Last 5 Years Despite Challenging Times
08/26/2022

 

12,000 students and growing! On the fourth day of the 2022-2023 school year, Dickinson ISD marked a momentous milestone by surpassing 12,000 enrolled students, and the district has watched this number continue to grow to 12,127 students during the first full week of school.  Normally, school district enrollment does not stabilize until after the Labor Day holiday, so this number is expected to continue to rise. Demographer projections are that Dickinson ISD could be home to approximately 12,250 students by the end of this school year.

Why is this momentous? It is a major milestone because of the perseverance and dedication of so many in the Dickinson ISD community over the past several years. Despite the devastation from Hurricane Harvey and all the challenges from the COVID pandemic, Dickinson ISD is continuing to be a very fast growth district. 

Five years ago, this weekend, Hurricane Harvey lingered over the Dickinson ISD community dropping more than 50 inches of rain in a short period of time. The impact it left on families was devastating with flooded homes, cars and personal belongings, and lost jobs which strained financial resources. However, Dickinson ISD families persevered, rebuilt their homes, and remained in the community. Neighbors and DISD students and employees helped each other, and assistance came from all over the country to help the Dickinson community. In addition to those remaining loyal to Dickinson, more families came and are continuing to come as newly built communities on the south side and west side of the school district have sprung to life with thousands of new homes.

Fast forward two and half years later when most of the community had recovered from Hurricane Harvey. In March 2020, the world was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic. Dickinson ISD students and employees did not return to school after Spring Break.  They spent the rest of the school year adjusting to remote instruction, businesses shut down or drastically altered hours and procedures, and supplies at grocery stores became scarce. As the 2020-2021 school year rolled around, some students remained on remote instruction and others left public education. Now two and half years later, Dickinson ISD is still working hard to provide tutoring and other resources to help students struggling with academics due to COVID learning gaps and disruptions to their school experience. 

Despite these struggles, Dickinson ISD is still growing at a fast pace. On August 24, 2018, Dickinson ISD surpassed 11,000 students and now exactly four years later we celebrate more than 12,000 students in Gator Nation. That’s an increase of 1,000 students in four years while dealing with two once in a lifetime situations, which could have negatively impacted student enrollment. In the past year alone, Dickinson ISD has grown by 618 students when comparing the sixth day of school in 2021-2022 to the same day this year.

Fast growth comes with many challenges. The district continuously monitors enrollment to ensure space is available to house students and that there are enough employees to teach, support, and meet the needs of students. 2022-2023 will be a year full of planning and preparing for big changes in August 2023 as DISD opens Dickinson Junior High, realigns grades levels, and adjusts attendance boundaries at elementary, middle school and junior high campuses. At the same time, the district will be looking farther into the future by working with the district’s Facility Task Force to assess needs and plan for growth. 

For this week, we celebrate 12,000 plus students and the exciting year ahead in academics, sports, fine arts, and extra-curricular activities. DISD is excited to have our returning students back for a new year, and we welcome all our new students and new employees who are now officially part of the Dickinson ISD Gator family!


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