East Pennyroyal News

There were 737 fifth grade students enrolled in Pulaski County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 8.9% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Meece Middle School welcomed most of the fifth grade students in the county, registering 117 students.

Within Pulaski County schools, the highest student population was found in ninth grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in preschool.

Statewide, Pulaski County ranked 12th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 12th the year before.

Despite escaping some of the pandemic's educational disruptions, Kentucky's achievement gaps have remained an issue since 2019. In the eighth-grade reading assessments, for example, Hispanic students scored eight points lower than their white peers, and the gap reached 15 points in math. Black students fared even worse, falling more than 20 points behind and facing a failure rate nearly double that of their white counterparts.

School	# of 5th Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Meece Middle School	117	23.3%	502
Southern Elementary School	106	14.6%	728
Pulaski Elementary School	84	14.2%	591
Oak Hill Elementary School	79	13.7%	576
Eubank Elementary School	72	17.6%	408
Northern Elementary School	65	16.4%	397
Nancy Elementary School	64	17.9%	358
Burnside Elementary School	58	11.8%	491
Shopville Elementary School	50	13.1%	383
Science Hill Elementary School	42	8.2%	510