By Patrick Baron

BLOOMINGTON – District 87’s enrollment numbers are projecting a slight drop for next school year, which has been an ongoing trend since 2012.

At Wednesday night’s meeting, the school board examined overall enrollment numbers, as well as numbers specific to each of the district’s schools. Looking at next year’s numbers, the district is expecting a drop from 5,337 students to about 5,280. Despite the projected dip in the number of students, superintendent Barry Reilly remains optimistic that those numbers could increase before next September.

“What we expect is that we’ll see that level off. These are projections, you may see that that doesn’t actually come to play,” “You could see that number – I think it was 5,280, the overall – you could see it above 5,300.”

Since 2012, District 87’s student body has dropped by approximately 300 students, the equivalent of a small elementary school. Reilly cited community changes as a reason the numbers could be going down, such as Mitsubishi Motors closing.

Even if there is a slight decrease next year, the numbers will remain relatively consistent to what they have been the past four years.

Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].