This school year, King became an examination school for the new ninth graders. Ninth grade principal Dennis Veal, with the help of Ninth grade counselor Anneatra Kaplan, welcomed 310 freshmen.
“We worked hard on building the enrollment back up,” Veal said.
Veal is preparing to mentor all ninth graders to develop proper characteristics to stay a King. King is also providing a lot of SEL (Social Emotional Learning) and will also provide academic support through tutoring as well. Veal wants to make sure all 2026 graduates make it all the way through high school. He takes a hands-on approach, making sure students see in him the classrooms.
“... To kind of let them know exactly who I am, what’s going on and how the semesters work,” Kaplan said. “I’ve already done it in the past but just not as detailed because it’s so large I must really get in there.”
There are some students who prefer smaller classes, though.
“I would prefer my classes to have less students, because you can like get more ‘one on one’ time with the teacher and not having to bounce around with everyone else, it makes me feel excited, because I'm going to be able to experience all these things that just this school provide, and I'm kind of nervous though,” Bree Jones said.
Ninth grade English teacher Ronald Thomas said the crowded classrooms are preparing students for college and the real world.
