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Pine Hall Elementary will remain open as district monitors enrollment

Stokes County Schools, a small rural district in North Carolina, serves more than 5,500 students. KERI BROWN/WFDD

​A Stokes County elementary school that officials had discussed closing will remain open for now, despite enrollment numbers.

District leaders projected that enrollment at Pine Hall for the upcoming school year would dip below 100 students, and that's the threshold in order for the state to provide funding for a principal.

An enrollment dip could be caused by a population decrease in the area. According to U.S. Census data, many rural areas in North Carolina are seeing population losses. From 2010 to 2020, Stokes County saw a six percent decrease.

Local residents began a petition to keep Pine Hall Elementary open and the school board held a town hall meeting in May. Since then, more students have enrolled, meaning the school will stay open for now. Stokes County Schools Superintendent Brad Rice says some families are opting for other options these days like home, charter, and online schools, and that can also impact enrollment. He says it's a challenge that many rural districts are facing.

“It's something that we have to monitor," Rice says. "I believe we have nine elementary schools that have less than 200 students. So it's a concern for a lot of reasons and in a lot of areas.”

Rice says he's optimistic that growth in more urban counties like Guilford and Forsyth, some due to the construction of the Winston-Salem Northern Beltway, will eventually spill over into his community.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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