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Date: 9/15/2021
SPRINGFIELD – Discussion revolved around the decrease in school enrollment for public schools during the Springfield School Committee meeting on Sept 2.
Chief Information and Accountability Officer Paul Foster showcased a presentation which detailed the decrease. From the first day of school of last year to this year’s opening day, the schools sustained a 501-student decrease, from 23,917 students to 23,416. Foster broke down the figures on a grade-by-grade basis, stating that Kindergarten, 1st grade and 7th grade shared the biggest drops. On the other hand, Foster shared that both Pre-K and 9th grade experienced increases from last year’s numbers.
Despite the decrease, the Springfield enrollment data remains in line with other school districts. “This is very symptomatic of what’s going on across the entire state,” said Superintendent Daniel Warwick. The superintendent remains optimistic about the enrollment numbers, sharing that the Springfield’s Parent and Community Engagement online school is still actively enrolling students at this time. The online school currently has around 500 students enrolled, according to Warwick.
“I do think it’s going to pick up, I think the October [figures] are going to look different,” said Warwick. Foster discussed a variety of factors leading to the decrease, including parent’s experiencing initial hesitancy about schooling amidst the increase in COVID-19 cases and unfulfilled paperwork from parents who are homeschooling. Warwick also explained that most schools have been experiencing slight decreases over the last few years.
School Committee member Denise Hurst addressed the decrease in enrollment regarding funding. “At what point in time do we need to worry about the correlation of our enrollment versus our funding,” said Hurst. Warwick ensured that the decrease will not play an impact in funding for this year, as state-wide provisions will be in place to help ease the state’s decreases across each district.
“COVID has really turned a lot of uncertainty…I would sense that those numbers are going to go up,” said Mayor Domenic Sarno. The superintendent said he will continue to update the board on the matter leading up to the release of more exact enrollment figures in October.
The School Committee also discussed the smooth opening of schools across the district. “Kids are thrilled to be back. People are working hard and doing a great job with the kids. There was a lot of prep work that went in, and each principal had to plan for 100 different variables on every scenario, but everyone has done an absolutely fabulous job at doing that,” said Warwick, who visited 11 schools during the first week of opening.
Warwick highlighted a few strong points of Springfield’s opening, including the smooth integration of online schooling and the hiring of sufficient school staffing despite struggles across the state. He also shared that over 8.7 million pre-packaged meals had been distributed to students from March 2020 to the end of this year’s summer schooling, which is more meals than Boston distributed during that time.
The Springfield School Committee will meet again on Sept 16.