Astoria SD 1 board hears 10-year enrollment slide, 17% courtesy enrollment and rising special-education caseloads

A district presentation on enrollment and services at the Astoria SD 1 board meeting underscored long-term decline and capacity pressures.

Administrators presented a 10-year comparison of October enrollments showing a 7.48% drop over the period. The district reported 299 students living outside its boundaries attending on courtesy enrollments—about 17.4% of total enrollment—and estimated 42 registered homeschool students and roughly 144 students attending charter or other district schools. District leaders said the mix of transfers and homeschoolers suggests both retention and recruitment challenges.

The board heard detailed special-education figures. The district census was reported at 306 special-education students across the district, with school-level caseloads that include ASTER at 74 students across three classrooms; Lewis and Clark with 99 students; Storyville School with 103 students and three resource rooms; and Astoria High School with 109 students and three resource rooms. Officials said referrals have been unusually high this year and that they are adjusting caseload distributions and resource-room assignments to meet demand.

Board members pressed for further breakdowns and follow-up analysis. One asked how many of the 299 out-of-district students are in special populations; presenters said they would investigate and report back. Members also requested data separating students who rely on heavy online instruction from those who miss in-person learning for other reasons.

Attendance was a separate area of concern. Administrators said the high school’s rate of students designated as "regular attenders" was about 66% as of a recent report, and that absenteeism rises in upper grades. Board members discussed whether the district’s effective online delivery (Google Classroom and other platforms) may enable some students to remain academically successful while not attending in person, and they asked staff to identify how many remote-engaged students are succeeding and which are not.

District leaders described strategies to address these problems: targeted recruitment and outreach to families who have left, flexible enrollment options, continued emphasis on strong extracurricular programs to retain students, empathy interviews used to inform plans (149 interviews completed), and a new administrative intern focused on attendance and engagement.

The board received the report and asked staff to return with more granular analyses, including the geographic breakdown of courtesy enrollments and the success rates of students who rely on remote coursework.

Ending: The district said it would follow up with requested data and bring recommended actions to future meetings.