<div>There is a dramatic decline in chronic absenteeism at Cody Elementary. Classrooms are crowded at Jefferson.The North Platte public school board examined examined how enrollment and staffing are affecting students at the board meeting Thursday, July 23.Cody Principal Haley Allen and second-grade teacher Stevie Reed presented Cody’s annual building report, before the board shifted to district wide enrollment, building capacity, and class-size disparities during the work session / Committee of the Whole meeting.Cody Elementary has significantly reduced the number of students who miss 20 or more days of school, Allen said.When Allen arrived at Cody several years ago, some 18 students were missing at least 20 days. That number declined to 14 during the 2024-25 school year, and then dropped to seven during the 2025-26 school year, she said.“Kindergartners aren’t keeping themselves from school,” Allen said, explaining the decision to include a family-focused incentive.The school’s efforts include staff check-ins with students, monthly celebrations, classroom incentives, grade-level awards and increased communication with parents. Also, Cody introduced gas cards as prizes for families during its attendance celebration at the end of the school year, recognizing the parents and guardians who are responsible for getting elementary students to school.Varying class sizesThe district’s enrollment continues to decline, although the rate of decline has slowed. The district has adjusted to enrollment declines over time by closing two elementary schools (Osgood and Buffalo) and converting Buffalo into an early childhood center, Interim Superintendent Dr. Virginia Moon said. Moon compared planning for a school district to steering an oil tanker rather than a small ship, saying the district must consider what could happen 5-10 years in the future.The district’s presentation listed an overall building capacity of 4,740 students and an Oct. 1, 2025, enrollment of 3,415, numerically leaving 1,325 available seats. However, Moon cautioned that the district does not have more than 1,300 readily available classroom seats. Rooms are also used for special education, speech, sensory services, music, and other student supports. She said most available rooms are currently used for some type of service. “If we actually put that many students in every one of these buildings, my guess is it would feel really crowded,” Moon said.The elementary staffing report also highlighted wide differences in class sizes across the district. Depending on the grade level, the gap between the smallest and largest classrooms ranged from 14 students in kindergarten to 29 students in fifth grade. For example, two kindergarten classes at Cody Elementary have 14 students each. Jefferson had a kindergarten section with 18 students. By second grade, Cody and Eisenhower each had classes of 17 students, while one Jefferson classroom had 27 students.Fifth-grade class sizes ranged from 18 students at Lake Maloney to 29 students at Cody.Jefferson had several of the district’s largest classes, including sections with 25-28 students, while Cody’s fifth-grade class had 29 students.During the discussion, a board member said she had recently visited a Jefferson classroom with 31 students and was surprised how crowded it felt, although she commended the teacher for effectively managing the class.Moon said Jefferson appears to be the building requiring the most immediate study.“It appears to me that we’re going to have to take a look at Jefferson,” she said, noting that the larger numbers there appear across multiple grades rather than an single classroom.The discussion included several possible ways of balancing enrollment — hiring additional teachers, adjusting school boundaries, or directing new students to another elementary school when a class reaches a designated limit.Hiring another teacher would be the easiest approach, but also the most expensive, Moon said. Boundary changes could create more lasting balance but would be more disruptive to families.Board President Emily Garrick noted that adding a teacher does not always create an efficient class split. Dividing one class of 28 students could produce two classes of 14, while adding a third section to two classes of 28 would create three more evenly sized sections.Garrick said class size also affects staff retention as well as teaching and learning process. She said the district cannot continue adding positions each time an individual class becomes large, because of financial limitations.The district has developed an interactive map showing where elementary students live and which school boundary contains each address. Officials said the tool can be used to examine meal status and students attending schools outside their residential boundaries because of specialized services.Some students remain at their original school after moving into another attendance area, particularly when siblings attend the same building. Mills said the district has tightened its transfer practices but has generally allowed existing arrangements to phase out rather than forcing students to move immediately.Garrick requested additional information about projected housing developments, building capacities, and enrollment patterns by grade. The new spreadsheet can be adjusted to model different possibilities, including enrollment increases connected to new employers and/or housing construction.Moon said the financial consequences of opening or closing buildings matter, but the district’s primary concern must be ensuring each school can effectively serve its students without extreme differences in class sizes.Cody school: Behavior, proficiencyAlso, the Cody staff worked to reduce the number of student (mis)behavior referrals by developing a clearer definition of defiance, improving documentation, and creating behavior contracts or plans for students who have five referrals.Other efforts include weekly Boys Town skills lessons that aim to reduce disruptive behaviors and create healthy school cultures, daily reminders of school expectations, monthly reviews of behavior data and school-wide reward programs. Although Cody did not meet its behavior goal, Allen said the data will help identify students who require additional support and determine where changes are needed.Academically, Cody goals are for 58% of students to score proficiency in reading, 60% in math, and 75% in science on the Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System. The actual scores are still embargoed, although the assessments occurred last spring, so they could not share the results. Allen said the staff used professional learning community time and the school’s intervention and enrichment period to group students according to individual needs. Teachers also provided additional practices for tests, communicated with families, and organized a tunnel walk, during which younger students encouraged the students who wen to take the state assessments.Allen said first- and second-grade teachers saw a significant reduction by the end of the year in the number of students who need additional support to learn to read.She credited teachers with using collaborative planning time to study student data and build more targeted interventions.As part of a recommendation from Cody’s external review, the staff began bringing multiple sources of information into the school’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports meetings. Those sources included assessments (tests) known as MAP, NSCAS, and DIBELS, as well as classroom assessments, intervention results, and behavior data. The staff also intentionally used paraprofessionals during intervention periods to help compensate after Cody operated without a Title teacher during the school year.The building report also included community highlights such as Child Abuse Prevention Month activities, a student engagement lab, and support from the school’s parent-teacher organization. The PTO helped with Thanksgiving baskets, testing incentives, and purchased tables for outdoor learning. The district’s director of human resources, Kevin Mills, announced that Reed will temporarily assist at Jefferson Elementary while Jefferson Principal Dr. Tami Eshleman continues with cancer treatments. A long-term substitute who previously worked at Cody will cover Reed’s classroom during the temporary assignment.Following the Cody presentation, the board reviewed enrollment history, projections, elementary boundaries, building capacities, and current class sizes.© 2026 The North Platte Bulletin. All rights reserved!</div>

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There is a dramatic decline in chronic absenteeism at Cody Elementary. Classrooms are crowded at Jefferson. The North Platte public school board examined examined how enrollment and staffing are affecting students at the board meeting Thursday, July 23. Cody Principal Haley Allen and second-grade teacher Stevie Reed presented Cody’s annual...

School board considers enrollment pressures

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There is a dramatic decline in chronic absenteeism at Cody Elementary. Classrooms are crowded at Jefferson. The North Platte public school board examined e

School board considers enrollment pressures

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