Mercedes ISD reports 281-student districtwide enrollment drop and lower attendance in first two weeks

Mercedes Independent School District officials told trustees that district enrollment decreased by 281 students and average daily attendance fell during the first 13 days of the 2025–26 school year, with staff citing COVID-related illness and an active effort to locate missing students. The district’s technology director, Roland Handy, presented the first-day and 13-day counts for each campus and explained the difference between an exact enrollment count and the ADA measure. Superintendent Dr. Noyola told the board much of the early attendance decline reflected illnesses during the opening weeks and that outreach to families is ongoing. Handy opened the presentation by defining the reporting period: enrollment and attendance for Aug. 14–29, 2025, and he said district-level ADA fell by 287.28 and the attendance rate decreased by 0.94 percentage points compared with the same 13-day snapshot a year earlier. "This is not an average, but an exact count," Handy said of the 13-day enrollment column he displayed. The campus-level numbers the presentation showed included a 40-student decline at MEL (122 enrolled on Aug. 29, 2025, vs. 162 the prior year), a 116-student increase at Hinojosa (584 vs. 468) and a 65-student decline at Mercedes High School (840 vs. 905). The district also reported ADA and percentage changes for each campus; for example, Mercedes High’s ADA decreased by 76.72 and the attendance rate fell about 1.2 percentage points. Dr. Noyola said district staff have been conducting phone calls and home visits since school opened to locate and account for students and that the figures reported were an early snapshot: "the numbers that we'll discuss next month will be very different from here because we are tracking every student accounting for," he told trustees. He added that final accountability enrollment for state reporting will be determined on the last Friday in October. Board members asked about specific causes and the district’s follow-up. Trustees noted elementary attendance generally remained near the mid-90 percent range while middle- and high-school rates showed larger early declines. Dr. Noyola said the district’s health services and campus teams identified COVID as a major contributor to early absenteeism and that attendance has begun to rebound. The presentation concluded with board recognition of campus efforts to maintain attendance and a reminder from trustees that outreach and monitoring will continue through the October accountability date.