by Mary Rupert
Enrollment has increased by 150 students this year in the Piper Public Schools, according to Superintendent Tim Conrad.
A lack of facility space in Piper has led to the opening this year of a new modular unit facility, Conrad said.
The modular unit has eight classrooms that can accommodate more than 200 students, primarily eighth graders, he said.
The Piper district also has just started its new Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) program for kindergarten through fifth grade, he said.
In addition, a life skills program for students who have special needs in third through 10th grades has begun this year, he added.
“We’re operating this year for the first time with the third grade in two different buildings, and that’s going well,” he said. There are three sections at Piper West Elementary and three sections at Piper East Elementary.
Piper is adding a college-ready curriculum at the high school level, and bringing in new programs at the elementary and middle school level, he said.
The Piper district just received word of the ACT testing resuls from seniors who graduated in May, he said. Their performance on the composite test is 23.8, and the state average is 21.9.
“All of our core areas, English, math, reading and science, are well above the state average,” Conrad said. They are about a 1.5- to 2-point increase compared to last year, he said. “We’re excited about that.”
Conrad said he feels Piper hit the ground running at the start of this school year, where it left off last school year on a high momentum, and the high ACT test score results are giving the district more momentum as it starts the new school year.