First day sees more packed classrooms. And more students are on the way

Tri-City school districts are seeing more students in classrooms than last year — and they expect the numbers to keep rising as the first week of school continues.

In Richland, 13,861 students were enrolled as of Tuesday.

That’s an increase of 179 students over the official fall enrollment count last year, a district news release said.

So far, elementary enrollments are slightly lower than anticipated, but middle and high school enrollments are higher, the district said.

In Kennewick, preliminary enrollment was at 18,934 students on Tuesday — a figure the district said will continue to grow as more students are entered into the system. Two of the district’s high schools only had freshman on Tuesday.

Kennewick had 18,879 students last October.

In Pasco, enrollment was 10,807 students, up from 10,657 on the first day last year.

That included 8,208 students in grades 1-6, another 1,374 students in seventh grade and about 1,225 freshmen.

The district had a staggered start, with grades 1-7 and 9 starting Tuesday. The rest of middle and high school starts Wednesday and kindergartners have their first day Thursday.

Last year, the district had more than 18,000 students total.