News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sisters school officials are hoping for a strong turnout to fill up next year's kindergarten class and continue the new full-day program.
According to elementary school secretary Kathy Perry, the full-day program "was a success this year," but continuing it next year "depends on the numbers because it is self-supporting."
Kindergarten this year has 62 students in three classes, one of them a full-day class. Parents paid $200 per month in tuition for the full-day program.
Schools superintendent Steve Swisher is keeping a wary eye on kindergarten enrollment, which has been in general decline for the past five years. Enrollment fell from 87 in September 1993 to 70 in September 1996, then took a precipitous dive to 47 in 1997.
This school year, the class started out at 54 in September and has actually climbed to 62 as of this month.
Swisher worries that chronically small kindergarten classes could hurt the elementary school in the long run.
"It's critical for the future of our school district," Swisher said.
If class sizes fall, he said, "we lose average daily membership, we lose financing and we have to start dismantling programs." Cuts due to loss of enrollment could affect programs such as physical education and music, according to Swisher.
"If the elementary school really shrinks, how many specialists can we maintain?" he said.
Kindergarten enrollment has shrunk a bit statewide. Last year there were 42,390 kindergartners in Oregon. This year there are 41,871. In Bend, enrollment dropped from 850 in 1997 to 814 last year and 783 this year. However, Redmond's enrollment increased sharply from 347 to 411.
Overall, kindergarten enrollment has increased over the last decade - but not in Sisters. Despite a jump in enrollment mid-decade, Sisters is now three students short of where the kindergarten class started in 1989 with an enrollment of 65.
Sisters kindergartners live mostly in town (18) or in Tollgate (17) with the rest scattered through other subdivisions. Only one kindergartner lives in Crossroads and one in Black Butte Ranch. Four live in Indian Ford and six in the Wilt Road, Squaw Creek Canyon Estates and Panoramic area. Another five live in the Holmes Road area to the northeast and four live in the Cloverdale area, while seven hail from Plainview. One additional student attends class but is not accounted for in the school's area count.
Swisher thinks the relatively high cost of housing in the Sisters area compared to Redmond, Tumalo and other areas nearby is a factor in the low enrollment in Sisters.
"The core of the speculation (about the causes of low enrollment) goes to the cost of housing and the lack of affordable housing," Swisher said. "Not a week goes by that I don't have a conversation with someone asking 'how can I get my kids here. I work here and I can't find (an affordable) house.'
"The ones I talk to seem to have elementary school-age children," he said.
According to Perry, it is critical that the elementary school gets a good estimate of its future kindergarten class so that staffing and budget can be determined.
A kindergarten screening is planned for May 21, and is designed to help the school get that accurate fix.
Perry said the screening will be a 1-1/2 -hour process that will give parents information on their child's gross motor skills, vision, hearing, speech and skill with concepts.
"The parents are going to get something out of this, Perry said. "They're going to get information about how the kids are doing."
Perry said the screening will also help identify children with special needs. Those who need special services can often get them before they actually enter kindergarten, Perry noted.
But even a successful screening doesn't guarantee an accurate count. According to Swisher, last year's screening turned up 49 applicants for kindergarten. The actual enrollment turned out to be 54 - pretty close.
But, Swisher noted, among those who actually showed up for school were 20 different students than those who had been screened. Twenty students left over the summer and 20 different ones moved in.
Still, the screening is the best tool available to the schools for predicting next year's enrollment. According to Perry, the school plans to take appointments for the May 21 event, though they have not started taking them yet.
Those interested in full-day kindergarten can let the school know at the screening.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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