[04/03/03]Three new students have enrolled in All Saints’ Episcopal School during the past week, creating more hope the 95-year-old school can return to solid financial footing.

The new students, two more visiting this week and inquiries from across the world are giving All Saints’ new confidence, said the Rev. Bill Martin, rector and head of school.

All Saints’ announced in late January that it would close at the end of this school year, citing a lack of funds and a decline in enrollment over 17 years. Twenty years ago, 188 students were enrolled compared with the 80 enrolled today.

Supporters rallied and the board of trustees, made up of 18 representatives of clergy and lay people from Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and West Louisiana dioceses, voted in February to reverse the decision to close.

The school opened in 1908 as an Episcopal girls’ school and now is a boarding and day school for boys and girls in the seventh to 12th grades.

Martin said normally the school accepts the last student of the year in February and the recent increase may indicate the school will meet the goal of having 90 students by Nov. 1.

“Our small class size enables teachers to spend a lot of time with new students,” Martin said. “It’s not a matter of desperation.

“This is just one gift we offer for families who don’t want to wait for their children to be motivated inside and outside the classroom,” he said.

Martin added that publicity from the announcement may have helped people understand what the school offers.

Sixteen students will graduate May 17, and Martin said not all current students will return, but the new interest has given school officials confidence in meeting board goals.

Officials will kick off a fund-raising drive to reach the $750,000 needed to break even.

Nearly $300,000 has been raised from the group of parents, alumni and friends’ efforts earlier this year, he said.

“That will be a head start as we move into generating solicitation from alumni and friends of the school who have not been contacted,” Martin said.

To increase involvement in the fund raising and interest, a reunion for classes in the late 1970s and early 1980s is planned at graduation time this year.