MCHS Enrollment Remains Higher Than Forecast

The fifth enrollment count of the 2011-2012 school year held no major surprises.

The count, conducted Tuesday, Sept. 6, shows that remains the largest high school in Gwinnett. The Hoschton school has an enrollment of 3,539 students, down from 3,546 students at last count. The total puts Mill Creek with 58 students more than forecast.

remains below forecast with 1,832 students -- 107 fewer than projected. Archer High School currently has 1,916 students (32 above forecast) and Mountain View has 1,886 students (58 below forecast).

Though Mountain View and Dacula currently have fewer students than expected, growth is expected for both schools according to Jorge Quintana, GCPS Director of Media Relations.

“The enrollment at Mountain View High is less than the two other schools (Dacula and Mill Creek) due to the fact that this is a fairly new school having opened in 2009,” Quintana said in an emailed response to questions.

Mountain View opened with only slightly more than 1,300 students in 2009. Enrollment has increased over the past two years, Quintana added.

Dacula High School, Quintana said, was over capacity just a few years ago. In 2004, Mill Creek opened as a relief school for Dacula and, in 2009, both Archer and Mountain View drew students from the DHS cluster.

“Our plans have worked well as this cluster has been relieved,” Quintana said.

Whether or not Mill Creek will soon experience any relief remains to be seen.

“There are plans to build a high school in the northern area of the county which would relieve Mill Creek High,” Quintana said. “This new relief school was planned when growth rates were higher than they are currently.”

Though GCPS has not set a specific date for when the relief school will be built, 2007-2014 planning documents show the upper Mill Creek relief cluster school tentatively scheduled for construction in 2013 or 2014. The new high school will be located at 3621 Sardis Church Road in Buford (see map).

“While the Mill Creek cluster as a whole continues to grow, it certainly isn't the only one,” Quintana said. “The slower growth that we've seen in the last three years has allowed for us to catch up with the growing enrollment but we still have several other schools across the county that are over capacity.”

Currently, the school system as a whole is 130 students above forecast. GCPS’ total enrollment is currently 162,589. , GCPS has added 5,630 students.

Of the GCPS middle schools, Hull Middle in Duluth continues to lead enrollment with 2,303 students. The Sept. 6 enrollment count showed with 1,544 students up from 1,518 students during the first count and with 1,639 students compared to 1,641 during the first count. Twin Rivers currently has 1,483 students.

As of the Sept. 6 count, Hopkins Elementary in Lilburn had the most students of any GCPS elementary school with 1,728. In the Dacula area, had 1,274 students followed by with 1,176, with 1,045, with 998, with 871, with 630 and with 585.