REGIONAL – Enrollment showed modest change across the region, according to officials at area school districts.

Ely, however, proved to be exception, recording an increase of 39 students.

The Ely district showed gains in both the elementary and secondary grades. Washington Elementary School, which serves grades K-5, saw an increase of 15 students. Memorial High School, which fared even better, saw its enrollment rise by 24 students.

St. Louis County School District’s enrollment was also up from the previous September but less dramatically. The district started this year with about 10 additional students for a districtwide enrollment of 1,882 students.

That was better than Business Manager Kim Johnson said she had forecast. “We’re still down a little from where we ended the year last year, but it’s better than we predicted,” she said, adding that enrollment numbers fluctuate throughout the school year.

Johnson also noted that some of gains are coming from students open-enrolling into the district. According to the most recent statistics, St. Louis County currently attracts more than 220 students through open enrollment. Students who live in the Hibbing School District but choose to attend classes in South Ridge or Cherry account for the largest share of that segment. Cherry also draws 17 students from the Mountain Iron-Buhl School District and 26 from the Eveleth-Gilbert District.

School officials attribute the boost in open-enrolled students to both their educational programs and an aggressive marketing campaign.

Even with the gains, however, ISD 2142 is still losing more students than it gains, with about 570 students who are resident in the district opting to open-enroll elsewhere.

Meanwhile, other area school districts reported small changes.

Nett Lake Superintendent Steve Thomas said enrollment is at 72, which is down from the mid-80s enrollment at end of the last school year. “We had 15 graduate from our school and only five kindergarten students come in,” said Thomas, who added enrollment is pretty fluid throughout the school year.

Virginia’s enrollment is up by 11 students, according to officials there, while Mountain Iron-Buhl and Chisholm also posted gains.

MI-B Superintendent John Klarich said he has 280 students enrolled, up from an enrollment of 262 last spring while Chisholm Superintendent James Varichak noted his district started the year with 733 students after ending last year with 722.