Three weeks before students return to class for the start of the 2016-2017 school year, enrollment projections for Mathews County Public Schools are better than originally anticipated, according to Superintendent of Schools Nancy Welch.

Reporting to the school board during Tuesday night’s meeting in the Mathews High School media center, Welch told board members that according to information in the division’s school information system, 1,076 students are expected to be attending class this fall. The 2016-2017 budget was based on an enrollment of 1,061 students.

Included in that figure is an incoming kindergarten class of 56 students, with that number expected to increase, Welch said. Presently, three teachers and one teacher assistant cover the kindergarten classes at Lee-Jackson Elementary School. If the enrollment numbers increase significantly, Welch said, the school board may have to consider adding a fourth teacher.

Students will be back in the classroom on Tuesday, ...