NC Kentucky News

There were 526 first grade students enrolled in Nelson County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 3.7% less than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Bardstown Primary School welcomed most of the first grade students in the county, registering 205 students.

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

Statewide, Nelson County ranked 23rd in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 23rd 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 1st Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Bardstown Primary School	205	50.6%	405
Foster Heights Elementary School	115	16.4%	703
Coxs Creek Elementary School	79	16.3%	484
Bloomfield Elementary School	50	17%	294
Boston School	39	9.4%	417
The New Haven School	36	8.8%	409
Bardstown Alternative School	2	2.6%	77