Enrollment numbers shrinking at schools
Published on October 17th, 2007
STONEHAM - Students may find more elbow room when meandering the hallowed halls of Stoneham schools these days, as enrollment figures show a significant decline over last year.
October 1 official enrollment figures were released to the School Committee last Thursday. In total, the Stoneham school district experienced a net decrease in enrollment by 138 students over last year's numbers (this net number takes into account transfers in as well as out). Some of the decline surfaced at typically transient grade levels, while others have school officials scratching their heads.
According to Assistant School Superintendent Ann Patriquin, who performed a detailed analysis of the numbers at each grade level, the majority of the students who left, departed for other public schools in Massachusetts, meaning in large part that families have moved out of Stoneham. But there are still questions.
With Stoneham's budgetary problems of the last few years and the accompanying reductions in staff that the school department has been forced to make, a popular assumption might be that many people have left Stoneham for school systems with good staffing levels, higher state aid, better MCAS scores, and more money to run with.
However, Patriquin said the data shows that while some families have indeed moved to such towns, including Reading, Wakefield, and Lynnfield, many others have transitioned to more urban areas such are Medford, Revere, Everett and Haverhill. In addition, the data shows that families have left the Stoneham school system for other states. The trend of students leaving Stoneham public schools for private schools has not been as widespread as some have proffered.
At the elementary level, Stoneham has seen about 100 transfers, with the majority of those (71%) moving to other public school districts in Massachusetts, 16% moving out of state, 10% to private schools and 3% out of district special education placements.
The Middle School level saw some movement too from October 2006 till June, as well as over the summer. Roughly 32 students in grades 6 through 8 left Stoneham Middle School for private schools (15), other public schools in Massachusetts (11), and for special education out of district placement (6).
Grade 8 to 9 is a common transitional year with additional high school options in the area available to students. This year saw 31 students leave the Stoneham public schools at this grade level only, with the majority (45%) of students opting for area vocational schools. This figure, Patriquin said, is higher than normal. Another 32% of the exiting students went off to private high schools, with the balance moving to other public high schools.
Stoneham High School has seen a drop of 42 students, the majority of which have transferred to other public high schools (52%). This figure also includes about 19% of students leaving for private high schools, 19% moving on to a GED program or dropping out, and 10% comprising out of district special education placements. Alternatively, Stoneham High's junior class saw a net gain of several students, all of whom moved in from private schools.
"There is no good model in place to project enrollment for next year," said School Superintendent Dr. Les Olson. "If the pattern continues as the last two years, we could lose another 100 students...There should be no need for additional teachers or sections."
School Committee Chairman Maureen Soley added that decreased enrollment could also translates to decreased state funding. In other news, the School Committee will not be sponsoring a warrant article for this week's Town Meeting.
Instead, Town Administration David Ragucci, the Board of Selectmen and the town's Finance Board have stated that the school department needs will be included in warrant article 13 for the town's capital budget.
The School Committee is looking for about $100,000 for technology upgrades. Specifically, it is requesting funding for 24 new computers for the high school library, 26 new computers for the high school research lab, 24 laptop computers and one cart for Stoneham High School classrooms, plus $20,000 in wireless access service.
"This is a light band aid on the high school's needs," said Olson. Beyond this plan, addressing more of the high school's technology needs will have to be balanced with those of the Middle School.
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