Enrollment remains strong at local schools

By Mary Hay Davis
The Alpine Sun

     ALPINE — The new school year for most Alpine students began on Monday, Aug. 28. With some groans and lots of giggles, students slung on their backpacks filled with fresh school supplies and headed off to class.
     Enrollment has been a hot topic in Alpine since a new middle school in the Cajon Valley district opened this year off of Dunbar Lane, just outside of the Alpine Union School District boundaries.
     “Our enrollment is still strong at all three elementary schools,” said AUSD Superintendent Greg Ryan. “Kindergarten enrollment is down 20 students from last year, however, every district in East County has suffered declining enrollment at that level for the last five years.”
     The full impact that Cajon Valley’s new Los Coches creek Creek Middle School will have on enrollment at Joan Mac Queen Middle School will not be fully determined until the end of the first week of school. By then figures should be in from the attendance office to give a clearer picture of where AUSD stands.
     Enrollment figures are crucial to a district, as much of the funding provided is calculated on the basis of each school’s Average Daily Attendance (ADA). Fewer students enrolled means less money for the district.
     In anticipation of losing some students from Blossom Valley to the new Los Coches creek Creek Middle School, a letter was sent out this past spring from AUSD to families in the Blossom Valley area. The letter inquired about each family’s plans for choosing a middle school.
     “A good number said they intended to return to Joan Mac Queen,” said Katy Woodward, principal of JMMS.
     “We only had a handful of requests for inter-district transfers, I’d say less than ten,” Ryan said.
     Initial figures indicate a preliminary enrollment of 811 students at Joan Mac Queen. This includes 265 sixth-graders, 266 seventh-graders, and 280 eight-graders. Last year’s enrollment figure was not much different, at 825 students.
     Asked about the possibility of layoffs should a dramatic enrollment drop materialize, superintendent Ryan said, “No — while there might be a slight potential for reassignment, we are really down one staff position at Joan Mac Queen already and waiting to see what enrollment is like before we fill it.”
     Having started a week earlier, enrollment figures are in from Los Coches creek Creek Middle School. Assistant Principal Jennifer Wagner said enrollment at that school ended up being much higher than anticipated.
     “The expected enrollment was around 480 to 520 students, but first-week figures show 650 students enrolled,” she said. “Most of the extra students came from intra-district transfers within the Cajon Valley district. We are now in the process of looking to hire an additional four or five teachers as a result. The campus ultimately will have a capacity to serve around 900 students.”
     Mountain Empire schools were scheduled to start Tuesday, Aug. 29.
     “It is really too early to tell where we stand on enrollment,” said district office employee Charlene Bradbury. “We won’t know anything until the end of the first week. However, the Campo Hills development has had a direct impact on our district at the elementary level, and enrollment is expected to be up at Campo Elementary.”

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