For the third year in a row, first-day enrollment at the Pendleton School District has fallen.

At a Pendleton School Board meeting Monday, Superintendent Chris Fritsch presented the first enrollment report of the 2017-2018 school year. It was the board’s first chance to take a look at the district’s raw headcount for the first day of school.

According to the latest attendance report, 3,072 students were in class on the first day of school, 101 fewer students than the first day of the 2016-2017 school year.

For Michelle Jones, the district’s director of business services, it was to be expected.

“We’re right in line with my projections, but we’re down,” she said. “We’re not up from where we were last year.”

Board member Dave Krumbein said the district often gets a small bump in enrollment following the Round-Up.

Monday’s report was representative of the continual downward enrollment trend the district has experienced in recent years.

The district tends to end the year with fewer students than when they started, and if that trend holds true, it would mark a low within the past 10 years.

The district has made boosting enrollment one of the central focuses of its strategic plan and has discussed advertisements and online school as some of the ways they might reverse the trend.

It’s been nearly four years since the district passed a $55 million facilities bond, and Jones said its nearly finished.

Among the last items on the district’s checklist, Jones said the new track at Pendleton High School and the demolition of the old district office are completed and renovations at the high school auditorium are nearly complete.

Jones estimated there could be $300,000 left after all the final billings are received and the district could further invest in facilities, like new carpeting at the high school auditorium.