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Clarkston trustees weigh continuing limited elementary open enrollment to steady class sizes
Summary
District staff recommended continuing limited elementary school-of-choice (including Young Fives–K placement) and unlimited secondary choice; trustees asked for follow-up data on retention and teacher impact.
Clarkston Community Schools administrators told the board Monday they recommend continuing a limited elementary school-of-choice program (including Young Fives through fifth grade) and maintaining open secondary choice windows to help stabilize class sizes and sustain programs.
Mr. Lucido (district staff) presented recent enrollment analysis, saying the district took 74 students through the Young Fives–kindergarten choice last year and that without that program the district would have been about 72 students smaller than it is now. “We would have been down 72 students had we not run the program as we did last year,” he said.
The presentation said school-of-choice students outperformed resident peers on average in reading and math for the examined cohort. “Our school of choice outperformed our non school of choice students in both reading and math,” Lucido told trustees.
Why it matters: district leaders said the program helped balance class sizes, keep sections from collapsing and preserve elective offerings. Trustees said they value those benefits but want more data on year-two retention of choice students and on teacher experience.
Discussion and concerns
Trustees asked staff to return with attrition/retention figures for the original cohort (how many of the initial 75 students remained in year two) and with updated birth-rate capture and enrollment projections. Several trustees emphasized they do not want to rely indefinitely on school-of-choice to offset falling birth rates and asked staff to pursue program-based recruitment (for example, CTE/CSM tech, Clarkston Virtual) and to consider a community engagement effort to assess preferences.
Teacher response was raised: CEA President Beth Rogers spoke during public comment and said teachers generally regard school-of-choice students as “Clarkston students” and that the staff values the stability the program has provided.
Outcome and next steps
District staff will bring a formal recommendation back to the board at a future meeting that includes a proposed application window and retention metrics. No change to policy or application windows was adopted at Monday’s meeting.
