Sterling Public Schools’ Enrollment is Up

Sterling Public Schools opened the 2026-27 school year with an enrollment of 224 students. This is an increase of 10 students from the previous school year. A few changes have been made, but nothing major. Principal Jake Davenport explained that including the Standard Based Grade on homework is a minor change to ensure more coherence between what parents and students see throughout the year and what is reported on the report cards. Sterling’s elementary students went to this system a few years ago but this year is the first that students take homework home with the SBG score.
According to Davenport, the biggest changes to the high school grading systems were to category weights, late work acceptance, and extra credit. “We now have uniform practices across all classrooms to ensure students, parents, and teachers are all on the same page for the school’s practices.”
Another new development is an app for the school. Davenport explained that the app will provide patrons mobile access to some of the most used features of the school website. “It’s been an ongoing process figuring out how to get it built and published,” said Davenport. He added that the company that manages the website handles the actual creation while working closely with Renae Kinney, the school’s administrative assistant, who manages the content on our school website. “Our hope is to make school information more accessible to the public.”
It is also time for the school to set the budget for the coming year. A Budget Hearing & Tax Request Hearing for the 2026-2027 school year will be held on Wednesday, Sept 16 at 6:30 and 6:45 p.m. respectively.
Davenport reported that the first bid package has gone out for the new school addition. “Due to the timing, we are likely looking at starting construction in the spring.”
A newsletter article by Superintendent Riley Armes explains:
As the new school year kicks off there is a lot of excitement surrounding the new building project. I’ve had a lot of people ask about the new elementary school and when construction will finally begin. I wanted to share a quick update on where things stand.
Right now, we’re about three months behind our original timeline. When the final plans went out for pricing, the initial construction bids came back higher than expected because of market conditions that were beyond anyone’s control.
Instead of making hasty cuts and rushing into construction, the school board, CMBA Architects, and our construction partners have spent the last several months carefully reviewing the project to bring costs back in line with the budget. Our focus has remained on building the school that was promised, that meets the needs of our students and staff, while holding off on items that can be added later.
I know delays can be frustrating, but we would rather take the time to get this right than rush a project that will serve our community for generations. The decisions we make today will still matter long after we’re gone, so we want to make sure we do this the right way.
We expect to have a much clearer direction over the next month. At this point, with current projections, construction likely won’t begin until October, and the overall project will remain approximately three to four months behind the original schedule.
Thank you for your patience, your support, and your trust throughout this process. We’ll continue to keep everyone updated as more information becomes available in the future. As always, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.