District 1 schools off to ‘great’ start

Schools in Sheridan County School District 1 got off to a great start Monday, with an enrollment of just under 1,100 students.

District 1 Superintendent Pete Kilbride said that is again an increase in the enrollment in the district’s schools in Big Horn, Ranchester and Dayton.

That number is separate from the students enrolled in the district’s online Cowboy State Virtual Academy.

Those students also started school on Monday, Kilbride said. He said the district has tried to keep the number of virtual academy students to around 200.

Kilbride said numbers in the virtual academy have exploded as parents scramble to find alternatives to brick-and-mortar schools for their children. But, he added, the district has stopped accepting enrollments in the academy.

The virtual academy is offered statewide, so any child who is a resident of Wyoming can enroll. Instruction is provided by Wyoming-certified teachers in kindergarten through 12^th grade.

Kilbride said the academy in fact currently has students from throughout the state including Gillette and as far as Cheyenne and Douglas.