Nearly 21,000 students are

expected to return to class when Fayette County schools open for the 2003-2004

term next Monday.

With a conservative projected

enrollment of 20,991 students, final attendance figures will most likely

break the 21,000 mark, said Superintendent John DeCotis.

"We were just under 21,000

last year, so we'll probably have about 21,500 officially," he said

Tuesday.

No matter the final figure,

it represents the largest student enrollment in county history, the continuation

of a slow and steady rise in classroom head counts that has seen an 11.3

percent growth rate over five years.

In 1998, Fayette schools enrolled

18,762.

Two new schools open this fall,

bringing the county's total to 29. The new schools include Whitewater

High, which welcomes freshmen only this year in a temporary location at

the LaFayette Educational Center in Fayetteville, and Crabapple Lane Elementary,

which school officials vowed would open in its north Peachtree City location

on Monday even though final occupancy permits for the building had not

been given as of Tuesday afternoon.

Teachers, parents and other

volunteers were ready to move in at a moment's notice once the permits

are in hand, DeCotis said.

"There were some minor,

last-minute things the fire marshal wanted us to do in there, and those

things are done," DeCotis said Tuesday. "We just need to get

the fire marshal in there."

Crabapple has enrolled nearly

500 students in its first year, said Principal Doe Evans, and draws from

the Kedron and Tyrone attendance zones.

Here's a "by the numbers"

look at Fayette schools, provided by the district's public information

office:

Projected Enrollment:

20,991

Number of Schools:

29

Elementary Schools:

17

Middle Schools: 5

High Schools: 5

Evening High: 1

Alternative High: 1

Projected Certified Teachers:

1,632

Substitute Teachers:

712

School-level classified

staff: 563

Bus drivers: 182

Substitute bus drivers:

10

Number of bus monitors:

24

Number of buses: 240

Number of new buses, leased

not purchased this year: 20

Central office personnel,

certified and classified: 226

Number of new teachers

(as of July 21): 125

Number of new staff systemwide

(as of July 21): 41.5

Number of new teaching

positions added to the 2003-2004 budget: 17

Operating budget, 2003-2004

school year: $148.6 million.

Number of new teaching

positions added to the 2003-2004 budget: 17

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