Enrollment down in Sisters schools

In contrast with an upturn statewide, enrollment in Sisters schools is on a downward trend. Enrollment district-wide was reported to be down by 42 students to 1,389 at the end of January 2008. Last June at the end of the 2006-07 school year, district-wide enrollment was 1,431.

Next year's estimates call for an even greater decline.

"If you just go by what we call rollover numbers, if you take the first grade that goes to second grade and so on, the middle school will be down about 38 children. The elementary was down 50 this year, and they'll be down another 20 next year," said Sisters School District superintendent Elaine Drakulich.

Taking nothing into account other than the difference between the number of seniors graduating from the high school this year and the number of this year's eighth graders entering the high school as ninth graders next year, enrollment there will be down by approximately 30.

The current downward trend contradicts predictions made only a year ago by the Sisters School District that enrollment would increase this year by 3.6 percent. (See "Schools mull modular classrooms," The Nugget, November 29, 2006, page 1.)

Last year's predictions additionally estimated enrollment would increase by a minimum of 2.6 percent to a maximum of 5.3 percent each year of the next five and suggested the district would grow from 1,468 students (the number enrolled district-wide in November, 2006) to approximately 1,780 students in 2011, an increase of more than 21 percent.

Last year's sale by the Sisters School District of $2.1 million in full faith and credit obligations was approved by members of the Sisters School Board in part to provide the funds necessary to purchase a two-room modular for the elementary school and to remodel interior spaces to create two new classrooms at the middle school.

These facilities improvement projects, both of which have been completed, were approved to address the predicted increased enrollment the school district failed to achieve.

According to Drakulich, even though enrollment next year will be down at the high school, staff will not be reduced.

"We have some pieces to put in the high school, like the increased math and science state standards we are working on and the core-related learning experiences which relate to the academies, so those are pieces that we by state statute have to transition in, and they take more teachers to do that, so we're not looking at reducing staff at the high school," she said.

The elementary and middle schools are a different situation. Drakulich is looking at reducing staff at both schools.

"We didn't reduce this year. We started the year thinking we were going to have more students than we did, and we went ahead and left everybody in place. I'm looking at staffing right now. I'm working with principals on it. We'll still maintain a low student/teacher ratio, but we just don't have the students," said Drakulich.

The decrease in enrollment in the Sisters School District is not in sync with what is happening statewide. Recently, Oregon State Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo announced that the total number of elementary and secondary students enrolled in Oregon public schools continues to increase steadily. Reports submitted by school districts indicate that Oregon has 566,067 public school students, an increase of 3,239 students or .6 percent since last year.

Although specific reasons as to why numbers are down in Sisters schools have not yet been definitively established, the continued high cost of housing in the area appears to be a contributory cause. Certainly, housing sales are down nationwide, as well as in Oregon.

"Sisters may be feeling it (the decline) a little bit," said Drakulich.