Cherokee first-day school attendance up from last year

The Cherokee County School District began the 2016-17 school year Monday with 40,719 students, 578 more than a year ago at its 43 schools and centers, school officials reported.

Enrollment is expected to rise during the school year to more than 41,141 students, officials said. The district also begins the year with 4,553 employees, including about 2,550 teachers, along with 386 school buses transporting roughly 70 percent of the district’s students on 1,525 daily routes.

The district has a new middle school – Dean Rusk in Canton, replacing an existing school by the same name – as well as six new principals: Mark Merges at Creekside High School, and at the elementary schools, Carolyn Daugherty (Macedonia), Rodney Larrotta (Hasty), Izell McGruder (Boston), Joey Moss (Clark Creek) and Donna Bertram (Holly Springs).