West Wendover schools saw a small but statistically significant drop in student body populations from last year according to report from the Elko and School Districts.
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But while West Wendover, Nevada schools reported fewer students, there were much the same across the border in Wendover, Utah according to the Tooele County School District.
The largest drop was at the West Wendover Elementary which reported 634 students last Friday down 20 children from the same time last year. At the combined West Wendover Junior/Senior High School the student population dropped from 2011’s 504 to 493 this year.
But while Nevada schools lost roughly the number of one class, schools in Wendover, Utah stayed about even from 2011. According to the Tooele county School Districts while there were 10 fewer students at the Anna Smith elementary at 258, there were six more at Wendover High School at 200. Combined the student population is off just four students from the same time in 2011.
Last year West Wendover schools also saw a slight drop while Wendover, Utah school experienced a significant enrollment.
According to the Elko County School district there were a total of 1158 students registered in September 2011. That total was down 2.0 percent from 2010’s total of 1181.
Across the state line in Wendover, Utah schools reported a total enrollment of 454 students up 8.6 percent over 2010’s 418.
It was the first time since the division of the joint school system in 1996 that the Utah schools saw such a healthy increase with a decline on the Nevada side.
Until recently both sides of town mirrored each other more or less in school enrollment. While the Nevada side’s school population has always been much larger than the Utah side both sides gained or lost students at relatively the same rates as the other.
The StateLine bankruptcy and the Great Recession both had a devastating impact on the population of both sides of town and both sides school enrollments. The West Wendover Elementary school for example lost about 30 students the equivalent of a class every year for five years from 2003 to 2009.
According to the 2010 census there were 4,410 people in Wendover a drop of 6.6 percent from the 4,721 counted in 2000 and more importantly a drop of more than 10 percent from its estimated population of a bout 5,000 from the state demographers office.
West Wendover’s population decline has also spilled across the border into Wendover, Utah. The much smaller sister city also reported a decline of about 10 percent.
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In the past five years Wendover, Utah however has shown signs of great resiliency than its larger sister to the west. While no where near a complete recovery Wendover, Utah has logged some notable new development such as the new Nugget RV Park, the expanded Shell Service Center and the Dollar Store. West Wendover, Nevada on the other hand has met with little success apart from the addition of the Smith’s Gas Station the only large project West Wendover has seen in almost a decade was the City Hall and a city paid for industrial park that so far has one tenant.
This greater resiliency may be reflected in this years school population numbers as well.
Another cause for Utah’s increase could be in the easier access to local, state and federal government financial assistance.
While West Wendover, Nevada’s poor must travel to either Elko or Ely to even apply for financial aid Tooele County administers many of the same programs from its offices in Wendover, Utah City Hall.
The full breakdown of Wendover’s student population is
2012: WWES– 634; WWHS– 493; Anna Smith– 258; WHS– 200.
2011: WWES– 654; WWHS– 504; Anna Smith– 268; WHS– 194.
2010: WWES– 685; WWHS– 496; Anna Smith– 241; WHS– 177.