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Sweet Home reports steady enrollment but UPK near capacity; district lost 53 asylum-seeking students
Summary
Superintendent and district staff told the Board of Education that universal pre-K (UPK) is nearly full, net enrollment is roughly steady, and the district lost about 53 asylum-seeking students since last year.
The Sweet Home Central School District reported on Sept. 12 that overall enrollment is holding steady, but universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) is approaching capacity and the district lost 53 students who were asylum seekers since last school year.
The district’s enrollment presentation, given by Dr. Wilson, showed a UPK total of 189 students and noted the district will reach capacity at 198. Wilson said the district aims for about 18 students per UPK section and about 22 students for grades 2–5 as a guideline. “We’re at 189 at UPK…we’re going to hit capacity at 198,” she said.
Wilson said the district has an “integrated co-teach” UPK section at Glendale and Willow Ridge to support students with disabilities and that some exceptional (multi‑grade) classes are housed at Glendale, Maplemere and Willow Ridge. She explained the apparent small discrepancies in per‑section averages stem from how sections and headcounts are presented: “Really, when you look at the numbers for Glendale, it’s 52 students there…when you do the math on that, it’s 17.333, but you can’t have a 0.333 student.”
On districtwide counts, Wilson said the Sept. 12 snapshot showed a small net decline compared with last year’s comparable snapshot, noting the district’s count changes constantly. She told the board the district will provide a fuller picture after the annual BEDS (Basic Education Data System) October snapshot. “We’ll have more after that October 5 date when BEDS day happens,” she said.
The presentation also covered special education enrollment. Wilson said the district’s special education share has hovered near 13% over recent years and that the 2025–26 snapshot shows a net increase of 21 special education students compared with the prior year snapshot. She cautioned that the net figure reflects both incoming and outgoing students.
Board members asked for more grade‑by‑grade breakdowns to track how fifth graders roll into sixth grade and whether students are being lost to homeschooling, charter or private schools. Wilson said those numbers can be provided and that the October snapshot will allow more complete reporting.
Why it matters: enrollment figures drive state aid and staffing decisions and feed into capital and program planning. The board asked that the district return with more granular grade‑level and out‑of‑district placement counts after the official October BEDS snapshot.
Endnotes: Wilson and other administrators emphasized BEDS as the official October snapshot used for the New York State report card and state aid calculations.
