More students will have a chance at enrolling at Beaufort County Early College High School during the 2018-19 school year, following the most recent meeting of the Beaufort County Board of Education on Tuesday evening.

The board voted unanimously, with those in attendance, to increase the cap on enrollment at BCECHS from 65 students to 90, beginning with next year’s class of incoming freshmen, an increase of approximately 25 students.

According to BCS Superintendent Dr. Don Phipps, 151 students have applied to enter the program as freshmen during the 2018-19 school year. Phipps informed the board that BCECHS principal Emily Pake has indicated that the addition of a roaming teacher at the school should be sufficient to offset the increase in enrollment and keep class sizes at a manageable level.

Speaking with Dr. Phipps after the meeting, the superintendent said the school system has maintained a waiting list for students to enroll at the school. Phipps went on to say that administrators at the school have requested a change to the cap for a number of years.

In addition to providing greater opportunities for more students, Phipps hopes that BCECHS may provide an alternative for students who had previously been been accepted to the Northeast Regional School of Biotechnology and Agriscience, an organization the board voted to sever ties with during its Feb. 20 meeting.

“Many of the students that applied for NERSBA also applied for our Early College,” Phipps said. “By increasing the number of seats, I’m hoping we’ll be able to accommodate several of the students that would have normally gone to NERSBA.”

While the board’s vote on Tuesday will allow more of the 151 applicants to enter the Early College, Phipps said there are also copious opportunities for students to earn college credit through other avenues at BCS.

“Students don’t have to be involved with early college to earn college credits,” Phipps said. “In fact, we have a program called ‘career and college promise’ that allows a student to earn up to 44 college hours in the traditional four-year program of high school. So for students that don’t get into early college, there’s another alternative that would allow them to get a significant amount of their college work done while they’re in high school. “

Board members Eltha Booth, E.C. Peed and Barbara Williams were absent from the meeting. The Beaufort County Board of Education will hold a budget meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday. The next regular meeting of the BOE is scheduled for March 20 at 5:30 p.m. Due to scheduling conflicts in April, the board has moved its meetings from the regular first and third Monday of the month to April 9 at 5:30 p.m. and April 26 at 5:30 p.m.