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Superintendent reports preliminary enrollment decline, staffing and busing adjustments in back-to-school update
Summary
The superintendent updated the board on a preliminary enrollment dip, school consolidations and ongoing busing and staffing adjustments, noting numbers were not yet certified and that medical-exemption court rulings on vaccine policies are pending.
The Harrison County superintendent told the Board of Education the district’s preliminary enrollment figures show a decline compared with last year and that staff and transportation teams are continuing to tweak busing and staffing after consolidated schools opened.
“I checked the enrollment numbers today. Now this is not certified. This is just what I'm seeing,” the superintendent said, presenting the preliminary counts. She said last year’s certified month-two enrollment was 9,355 and that the district is “looking at another 300-plus loss” compared with that number. She reported 780 students listed as homeschooled and a host-number of 656, giving a combined total of 1,436 students in alternative education placements outside regular county public schools.
The superintendent said she toured new consolidated schools and feeder patterns and praised staff for opening the buildings smoothly while acknowledging continuing operational issues, especially with some bus routes. “We're tweaking the problems that we're finding with busing,” she said.
On health and staffing, the superintendent said the district has a county nursing coordinator and school nurses and is working with families on vaccine medical exemptions that the state has issued. She said the district is awaiting how courts will rule on some exemption issues.
On staffing and substitutes, the superintendent said the district is updating substitute lists and continuing hiring efforts; she said some retirees are reapplying but that background checks and reapplication processes are barriers for some would-be substitutes. She said principals have discretion in some staffing decisions after the board's cutoffs, but that the administrator-level decisions are intended to limit midterm disruptions.
Board members asked procedural questions about parent access to a new grade-book system and whether parents must ensure their current email addresses are in the system. The superintendent said a parent login exists and that the district is conducting additional lunchtime trainings to help staff and parents learn the new system.
The superintendent framed the enrollment figures as preliminary and likely to move as families are re-enrolled or identified in the system; she emphasized that the district will continue to monitor figures and staffing needs as the year progresses.
