Declining Enrollment Poses Challenges for Salisbury Schools
Western Salisbury Elementary and Salisbury Middle School face steepest declines as enrollment continues to drop in Salisbury Township School District.
As enrollment continues to decline throughout Salisbury Township School District, particularly in its elementary and middle schools in the west, school officials are grappling with how to allocate resources.
The declines affect everything from staffing levels levels to course offerings.
- Enrollment has dropped nearly 28 percent at Salisbury Middle School since 2006-2007 and is projected to drop an additional 5 percent in 2012-2013, according to figures released by the school district.
- At Western Salisbury Elementary School, which is next door to the middle school on Devonshire Road, enrollment has dropped nearly 22 percent since 2006-2007 and is projected to drop an additional 8 percent next year.
- Enrollment has remained fairly stable at Harry S. Truman Elementary School, at around 415 students, dropping by 12 students in the last four years.
- Enrollment at both elementary school is projected to drop from 654 students in 2011-2012 to 609 students in 2014-2015.
- Salisbury High School enrollment is project to drop from 557 students in 2012-2012 to 550 students in 2014-2015, a 1.2 percent decline.
- Enrollment in the district is expected to be below 1,600 student next year, down from 1,850 about seven years ago.
"There comes a time when we don't have children in front of the teachers," said Assistant Superintendent Louise Beauchemin at Monday's school board meeting on the proposed 2012-2013 budget.
The elementary schools have reduced the number of classes per grade level over the last three years, Beauchemin said. "We used to have four of every grade at Harry S. Truman and three at Western Salisbury. We now have one less of each," she said. The reductions save the district money, she said.
"The children are not in the district and now the movement of declining enrollment is up to the high school and middle school level," she said.
In This article
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Salisbury Township School District
1140 Salisbury Rd, Allentown, PA -
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Salisbury Middle School
3301 Devonshire Rd, Allentown, PA -
Western Salisbury Elementary School
3201 Devonshire Rd, Allentown, PA -
Harry S. Truman Elementary School
1400 Gaskill St, Allentown, PA
JS
10:10 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
It does need to be noted that the 28% decline at the Middle School is caused by moving 1 of the 4 grades to the High School, so it really is more like a 3% decline.
I'd also question the numbers for WSE, which has had two sections at most grade levels for quite some time, with occasional spikes requiring three sections. They did have one very large class which moved on to the middle school around 2007, which probably resulted in the large percentage decline cited here.
Finally, it also should be noted that High School projection of declining enrollment is based on a 7 student loss in a couple years. With the number of students that move into and out of the district every year, this number is pretty much the same as saying enrollment is flat.
Even taking away the "shock" numbers at SMS and WSE for the reasons noted above, I still agree that there's still no doubt that there has been a slow overall trend of declining enrollment in STSD, and that the Board is right to recognize that. However, I'm a little concerned that the "highlight" numbers being presented are a bit misleading, and hope that isn't being done deliberately to try to lay the groundwork for any drastic decisions in the future.
Carol
11:48 am on Thursday, May 10, 2012
There is no hidden agenda here as you imply.
I am sure that the analysis takes the middle school change into account and looks at it by grade level. The indisputable fact is that enrollment is down 13.9% (1650 from 1800) in 7 years. On top of that, elementary enrollment is projected to drop another 6.9% over the next two years. The elementary dropoff will move into the middle and high schools as students progress.
The reality is that the numbers are bleak and the district would be irresponsible to ignore them.
JS
12:37 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Carol, I agree 100% that STSD has had a slow and steady enrollment drain over the last 10 years or so, and applaud the school district for looking at it. It does concern me, however, when I know from past experience that the two "highlight" facts (SMS enrollment and WSE enrollment) being used in the article to get public attention are somewhat misleading in the format they are being presented. SMS enrollment is down such a huge amount because of one grade being moved to the High School, and I know that WSE had a "wave" of kids in one grade who passed through that skew those numbers.
I'd also love to see more enrollment data for a longer period - for instance, I'd love to know how many students the schools had in the 80's and 90's. My personal feeling is that development during that period (Lindbergh and Devonshire Park areas, as an example) led to a younger population in Salisbury for a while with more children. I'd be curious to see what the historical "baseline" number of students is for the district. My suspicion is that we're probably fairly close to this number as these neighborhoods "age" and can expect things to level off fairly soon.
Carol
1:12 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
You are correct. Development on the west side did increase enrollment in the 90's and those children have moved on. There is no land left in the township left suitable for large residential developments, so the enrollment will depend on birth rates and the transition of homes from current residents to the next generation.
JS
2:53 pm on Thursday, May 10, 2012
Agreed again...enrollment is heading back towards numbers from the late 80's. In the end, you're absolutely right. Salisbury has very little developable land left and, in the absence of any change in number of houses, enrollment is going to depend entirely on demographics. For over 40 years, STSD has been served by it's current school system, and there's no reason to change it now.
While I generally think highly of the district, STSD opened up my mistrust a few years ago by even considering combining elementary schools and busing kids back and forth at different grade levels. My concern is that this cyclical drop in enrollment back to historical levels is being overdramatized as an excuse to bring the issue back up again within the next few years. I hope I'm wrong on this...the township is too spread out to make busing kids back and forth for different grade levels at the elementary level a good idea for anybody, and the loss of community elementary schools would be devastating for everyone in the community.
Mik
12:47 am on Saturday, May 12, 2012
Interesting information. Thank you! I'm most intrigued with the last comment - ...the township is too spread out to make busing kids back and forth....and the loss of community elementary schools would be devastating...I never thought of it that way, but it's sounding like a real legitimate fact. The #1 advantage to living here is that we're small and VERY community-oriented, yet close to everything. The way to keeping that standard of life, we need ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS close to our homes. To me, that's a priceless gift.