With a total enrollment of 32,026, Ector County ISD has full houses at its comprehensive high schools and middle schools.
The elementary campuses are a mixed bag. And new this year is the Odessa YMCA Learning Center, which has 135 three and four year olds.
Enrollment at Odessa High School has hit more than 4,000 while Permian High School is at 3,821.
Permian has a larger freshman class at 1,303 than OHS, which has 1,136 ninth graders.
The number of students in grades nine through 12 decrease as they go up. There are 1,029 sophomores at OHS; 989 juniors and 851 seniors.
At Permian, there are 971 sophomores; 837 juniors and 710 seniors.
George H.W. New Tech Odessa has hit 442 students in grades nine through 12.
Among the early college high schools, OCTECHS has 354 and Odessa Collegiate Academy has 374 students.
OHS Principal Mauricio Marquez said this year is one of the largest enrollments the campus has had in several years.
“It has been great to see all the students back on campus after going through hybrid and remote learning last year.
“Students need to be back in school, not only for their education but also for their social and emotional needs.
“Our teachers, administrators, and staff have enjoyed having our students back this year,” Marquez said in an email.
At the same time, Marquez acknowledged that OHS is over capacity.
“We currently have 14 portables and have 17 teachers without classrooms that have to float from classroom to classroom,” he said.
As the grades go up from ninth grade, the class size declines.
“There are various reasons for the larger number of students in ninth grade. One of the key factors is due to students not obtaining the necessary credits to be considered sophomores, junior or seniors. Unfortunately, some of these students that did not earn their credits are due to excessive absences. The state of Texas requires students to be in attendance 90% in order to receive their credits. We also have students who unfortunately leave school to pursue a job in the oil and gas industry which impacts these numbers and our dropout rate,” Marquez said.
He added that there are many things they do to support the students in ninth grade and beyond.
“Our district has implemented a transition plan for ninth grade students. This year, they were given two days on campus prior to having the sophomores, juniors and seniors attend. The purpose for this transition plan was to ensure that our ninth grade students were made to feel welcome because it can be overwhelming for any middle school student to come from a campus of approximately 1,000 students to a large comprehensive high school with 4,000 students. We divided the entire ninth grade class into smaller groups and held presentations throughout the campus to allow the students to become familiar with the campus. We also utilized these two days to provide orientations to all ninth grade students regarding the importance of grades, attendance and taking advantage of all of the courses that we have to offer,” he wrote.
“Our counselors and administrators conducted presentations on the opportunities of taking advanced classes in Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, Dual Credit and OnRamps which is an amazing opportunity for students to obtain college credit while still in high school. They also presented all of the great opportunities that we offer through our Career and Technical Education Programs,” he added.
“We continue to provide ongoing support to all of our students throughout the year. It is imperative that our students get involved in some aspect of our school, whether it’s athletics, fine arts, CTE, academics or one of our many campus clubs. Students need to feel connected to our school,” Marquez said.
Ultimately, he said, it’s about creating relationships with every student.
“It’s our charge and responsibility to ensure that every student is made to feel welcome and supported,” Marquez wrote.
Nimitz Middle School tops the middle school enrollment with 1,433 students.
Ector College Prep Success Academy, an in-district charter school has 1,369 students; Wilson & Young Medal of Honor Middle School has 1,257 students; Bonham Middle School has 987 students; Bowie has 1,024; and Crockett Middle School has 995.
Among the elementary schools, Fly has the largest enrollment at 948; Buice has 842 students; Jordan has 778; West has 637; and Cavazos has 669, as examples.
Reagan Elementary has 607 students and Hays has 410.
Ross has among the smallest enrollments at 375.
Travis has 292, but it has only grades three through five.
Zavala has 398 students in prekindergarten through second grade.
Carver Early Education Center has 303 students and Lamar Early Education Center has 441.
