When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and school buildings closed in the spring, Park County School District No. 1 leaders didn’t know how many families would decide to keep their kids home in the fall.

“We were really concerned that due to the pandemic, there could be a lot of kids that just didn’t want to come to school, and maybe try homeschool or maybe do virtual school,” said Jay Curtis, superintendent of Park County School District No. 1.

But since school resumed in-person last month, the district’s enrollment numbers have held fairly steady at 1,800 students. By comparison, the district had 1,821 enrolled last October, when the Wyoming Department of Education took its official count.

“I think it’s actually a very good thing to have the numbers that we do,” Curtis told the Powell school board Tuesday night.

The superintendent said families seem to be fairly transient right now.

“The pandemic is moving a lot of people out of hard-hit states, trying to get out, so we’re seeing increases from states like Oregon, California, Washington,” Curtis said.

While families have moved in, some students have left Powell schools.

“I don’t know where our kids are going when they are leaving here, but just seems to be part of the transience right now,” Curtis said.

For the first month of school, the enrollment numbers fluctuated, but “it seems like the numbers are stabilizing.”

New students have continued to enroll, as a few students started Tuesday.

With 580 students, Powell High School has the largest enrollment, followed by Powell Middle School at 412 kids. Among elementary schools, Westside has the largest number of students at 303, followed by Southside at 289.

Meanwhile, Clark Elementary School has 10 students, which is higher than the last couple of years, Curtis said.