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Steamboat Springs — A Steamboat Springs School District official corrected Friday the total number of English Language Learner, or ELL, students in the district.

JoAnne Hilton-Gabeler, the district's director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, said the total number of ELL students in the district is estimated to be 115 for the 2008-09 school year, not 200, as reported on the front page of Friday's Steamboat Today.

The confusion arose from an e-mail exchange between Hilton-Gabeler and a Steamboat Pilot & Today reporter. In an e-mail response to inquiries about the district's ELL enrollment, Hilton-Gabeler wrote, "Right now our numbers at the elementary schools are 35 at Soda Creek (Elementary School) and 50 at Strawberry Park (Elementary School). The numbers are still unstable at the middle and high (schools), so I cannot give you those until next week. I am guessing we'll top out around 115 ... just a guess."

Friday's story included the following paragraphs:

"Hilton-Gabeler said the

number of ELL students in the upper grades is not confirmed, but she expects a total of about 115 students at Steamboat Springs Middle School and Steamboat Springs High School.

"The cumulative amount of 200 ELL students is much higher than last year's total of about 110 ELL students in Steamboat."

On Friday, Hilton-Gabeler clarified those statements and her e-mail by writing, "I guess my sentence references and modifiers are unclear. I said we would top out around 115 or so ... that was for the entire district, not just the middle and high."

That puts the district back in line with the number of ELL students in the district in recent years and is not a sharp increase as reported.

Friday's story ran under the headline: "ELL growth off the charts."