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>Why is the school so much smaller? I thought NC in general was gaining population.

It is. We have too few schools. The 9th, 10th, and 11th grades are all too full and there are not a sufficient number of classes and teachers for all the students. When it comes to the 12th grade, that is the number of students still in school. This school got it's first new principle in years last year and he instituted new rules for graduation such as having to do a huge project if you miss too many days of school, making up time in class after school when you missed class, requiring all seniors attend full time even if they only needed one class to graduate, etc. Too many students were too lazy to do that and they actually dropped out or instead went on straight to a local college and skipped the 12th grade completely.