I have been closely following enrollment numbers in the Evesham Township School District since 2017. Back then, it was necessary because conflicting stories were being told about the closing of Evans School. I continued to report on enrollment even after Evans closed, as I thought it was important to try to determine whether the proper decision was made.
As that decision is now well in the rear view mirror, I had thought I would stop tracking this information. Then COVID hit and changed things. Because the 2020-2021 school year was partially remote, it was more difficult for me to track class sizes. It also greatly affected total enrollment: many parents chose not to send their children to ETSD. Whether they decided to home school or send them to private school (who may have been open full time), enrollment dropped significantly at the start of the 2020-2021 school year, especially for Kindergarten.
With the 2021-2022 school year beginning completely in person, enrollment has gone back up, though I would guess some parents who sent their kids to private school last year continue to send them to private school. So here are a few quick data points.
Enrollment is up 85 students from September 2020, but still below September 2019. Much of that increase was in Special Education students, which is now at an all time high. Evesham continues to be a draw for their Special Education curriculum, though with that comes increased costs for Special Education.
Full day Kindergarten enrollment is up significantly from September 2020. With schools being partially remote last year, many parents chose not to send their children to full-time Kindergarten. With the return of in-person teaching, the children have returned, along with the important revenue stream, as full day Kindergarten costs $5,500.
Grade 2 remains an anomaly for average number of students. Of the 5 primary grades, it is the largest in terms of total number of students, with 454. The next highest is 5th grade with 440 students. First grade is the smallest with 400.
- There are 7 classrooms with 24 students. There are no classrooms with more than that. The high number of students in a class is usually due to the total number of students in the grade. If you have 93 students in a grade in a school, do you make 4 classrooms of 23, 23, 23 and 24 students, or 5 classrooms of 18, 18, 19, 19, and 19. The answer may depend on whether you are talking about 1st grade students or 5th grade students, the experience of the teachers and other factors.
- The two schools that were closest to FES capacity (closest to being 'full') at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, Beeler and Rice, both have fewer students to begin this year.