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Board hears enrollment update; district reports initial retention through new online option
Summary
Superintendent and staff reported preliminary enrollment figures, said four to five families who had applied to open-enroll elsewhere have chosen to stay because the district offers an online program, and described class caps, secondary enrollment increases and plans to finalize student-transfer data in October.
District leaders gave an enrollment update and described early retention tied to a limited online learning option that the district is offering this year.
Superintendent Grimes and staff said they have contacted families and, as of the meeting, four families (with a fifth expected) who had already applied to open-enroll elsewhere have decided to enroll in the Ames Community School District instead because the district will offer an online program. "We've identified a number of students, and we've begun contacting those students and families. And at this point, there are 4 different families. I'd say 5, but I'm still playing phone tag with 1," the presenter said.
Officials said specific competing districts cited in the discussion included Iowa City and Iowa Connections Academy. Staff said they will refine criteria for limited online seats if demand approaches capacity and will report a fuller set of enrollment data at the September board meeting.
The superintendent reported secondary enrollment was up by 16 students in the most recent update and that elementary class-size capping measures had been used at Mitchell Elementary to stay within board goals. The district is still finalizing counts and plans to provide more complete transfer and ESA (Education Savings Account) related data by October 1.
Board members asked whether net decreases were ESA-related and were told staff would obtain detailed transfer records from the district registrar (Cassie) and include updated counts in an October report.
No votes were required on the enrollment update itself; the board asked for a follow-up on the online-learning criteria at the September meeting.
