MINNEWAUKAN (AP) - Four years ago, the water level at Devils Lake was up here and school enrollment was down.

The water level of Devils Lake has continued its rise, claiming one-third of the school district's land. But school enrollment has almost doubled in that time, thanks largely to open enrollment.

"It was looking pretty bleak," said Ron Carlson, the high school principal. "We were financially hurting, with only a $10,000 carryover one year. We were not too far away from closing the school."

Minnewaukan now has 223 students, up from 117 four years ago.

Once desperate for students, the school is turning them away. Thirty-two students were denied entrance because of a lack of teachers and space.

"The school board will be looking at adding both staff and portable classrooms," Carlson said. "If we want to, I think our numbers could go sky-high in the next couple of years."

Only 46 of Minnewaukan's students live within its boundaries. Most of the other 177 students live in the Fort Totten area.

Minnewaukan also received more students this year as a result of a merger of the New Rockford and Sheyenne schools. The consolidation took effect in July. But some people were upset that some of the teachers from the former school districts were not offered jobs after the merger. New Rockford students skipped classes for a day in February to protest.

The Sheyenne elementary school has 30 fewer students than it anticipated, superintendent Kurt Eddy said.

It's common for schools to send buses outside their district lines to pick up students. But Minnewaukan takes that to a new level, sending buses to Sheyenne, Fort Totten, Devils Lake, Oberon, Warwick and St. Michael.

Jean Callahan, the Minnewaukan elementary principal, credits the enrollment gains to programs added in the last few years.