The Annual Count Stress

As a small school with no particular cachet (to outsiders: we think we have many exciting and unique qualities), the enrollment saga is an annual stress.  Since we're small, it doesn't take much to tip us into needing another classroom - or losing one.  And Kindergarten enrollment is always fraught.

This year, we have been nearly full or entirely full at Kindergarten since a couple of weeks before school started.  Usually we don't fill up until the first day of school, if at all.  Also, there's been less movement: I didn't have any students leave after the three-day count (when places may open up at schools families have wait-pooled).  There was also an eight-day count, and nothing happened.  Friday was ten days, so I imagine there could be some shifts this week.

Also interestingly, we must have been officially closed for enrollment at some point, because this week we got a few students who started at different schools and then transferred in.  I'm guessing that enrollment district-wide is up, so we're just riding that wave.  Or maybe it's the new-ish enrollment plan.  I'd like to think that our local rep is up, though.  I mean, we do run a tight Kindergarten program, with a lot of cool programs and opportunities not available at every school.  A number of our teachers received various awards and recognition from local and even national groups over the last couple of years.

Anyway, high enrollment is great in terms of budget and staff stability; it's less fortunate for class sizes. Speaking as a seasoned professional, there's a big difference between a class of eighteen and a class of twenty-three at the primary grades; I would prefer the smaller class to my new contract sweeteners for over-enrollment.  And our upper grades are really big this year; we cannot afford to buy them down (some schools in the District can and do, and no matter the source of their funding it is to my mind one of the biggest inequities the District enables) and quarters are pretty cramped.