If you want to measure how Lexington County is growing, look at District 1’s enrollment.

The district had 24,693 students 5 years ago in Gilbert, Lexington and Pelion.

Today that number has soared to 27,213 students.

That’s a growth of 2,520 students in 5 years.

At the Lexington Chamber of Commerce breakfast last week, District 1 Superintendent Dr. Greg Little said enrollment rises more than 500 students every year.

All that growth requires new and bigger schools and more teachers. This year they added 118 new teachers.

Dr. Little said the district has changed the way it builds new schools.

In the past, schools were built to accommodate an anticipated number of students. But within only a few years they had to add portable classrooms.

Now the district builds far larger schools.

Another innovation is prototyping construction which will save countless dollars in future years as well as get construction underway faster.

The district has a prototype for elementary schools and one for middle schools that are used to recreate new schools on new sites.

The Beechwood Middle School prototype, for instance, will be used to build the relocated Lexington and Pelion middle schools.

Centerville Elementary, under construction on Highway 1 in Gilbert, uses the same prototype as was used for Meadow Glen Elementary and Deerfield Elementary.

Last year, in a partnership with Google, they implemented a “rolling study hall” by equipping school busses in Pelion with Wi-Fi computers and a teacher.

That allowed students to access the district’s site and do their homework on the ride home.

90% of the students in that program passed all their courses.

Other noteworthy achievements, he said, are:

• A program to help students addicted to drugs or alcohol.

• A dual enrollment program with USC Sumter that allows high school students to earn up to 20 college credits.

• 105 students in one of 4 language immersion programs have earned the SC Seal of Biliteracy.