Trending
By LAKESHIA KNARR
MILL HALL – The Keystone Central School District has seen a steady decline in its student population over the last months and years, driven mostly by families moving out of the area.
Between May 2013 and this past May, the district lost 156 students.
Where are they going?
What are their reasons for leaving the district?
“We have to some degree a transient population,” Superintendent Kelly Hastings said, explaining that area families often move around within the Williamsport, Jersey Shore, State College and Lock Haven areas.
“That’s often an aspect we have to deal with,” she said. “The other variable we have to deal with is we’re not the only game in town.”
Cyber and charter schools are becoming more enticing to students and families who find disatisfaction with public schools.
“Many students leave the brick and mortar of the district because of attendance issues,” Hastings added. “They have enacted attendance requirements for cyber and other schools, but it fits their (the students) schedule.”
The 2013-14 school year demonstrates all the variables for students leaving the district, according to data gathered by Keystone Central’s Cyber Principal Ralonda Austin.
r 120 students moved to another district in Pennsylvania.
r 76 students moved out of state.
r 42 students went to Sugar Valley Rural Charter School.
r 40 students went to an outside cyber school.
r 25 students quit or dropped out. Four of those 25 students didn’t graduate in 2012-13 and didn’t re-enroll by Oct. 1 (they carry over and count as drops in 2013-14); 11 withdrew for non-attendance (they were over 17 years old and missed 10 or more days in a row), and 10 quit/withdrew on their own for various reasons (such as taking a job, taking care of child, or pursuing a GED.)
r 20 students went into placement. Placement children are those who are hospitalized for any reason outside of the school district, taken by Children and Youth to a placement location, or incarcerated children. Placement also refers to any child who is placed in a location outside of the district, and the district usually does not place those children, Austin explained. Families, doctors, Children and Youth Services and other such entities usually place children in those locations.
r Six students transferred to a Christian academy.
r Four students’ whereabouts are unknown. They moved and gave no forwarding address and after a security search the district still couldn’t find evidence of where they went.
The data also shows a decline of five students who left because they either went on an exchange to another country, earned their diploma from a correctional facility, transferred to Mom’s kindergarten, or passed away.
At the end of the school year this past June, Keystone had about 4,140 students enrolled, while the Sugar Valley Rural Charter School had 266 students. (This week, SVRCS reported enrollment for this fall will be 396 students, with 109 of those students receiving special education coursework via IEPs, or Individualized Education Programs.)
Seniors in Keystone – at Bucktail and Central Mountain -totaled 368 in June, with 324 at CMHS and 44 at Bucktail. The graduating class total is still in flux as some students were taking summer courses to graduate, explained Susan Blesh, KCSD business manager.
Hastings said truancy is a complex situation for students, families and the school district.
When the district sees a pattern of lack of attendance by a student, parents are notified. Eventually, a magistrate may get involved and parents or guardians can be fined, Hastings said.
As far as why these students are leaving, it may be hard to tell.
“Another big issue we’ve seen, at some of our city schools is – because of the way the bussing is – we will have children whose parents want their children bussed,” Hastings said.
When parents find out they are within the parameter of the school, wherein they cannot have their children bussed to school, they choose to have them bussed to the charter school, Hastings said.
“Generally, what I hear is attendance and bussing issues in terms of people leaving to go to cyber or charter schools,” she said. “People leave sometimes because they get angry about things. A few people really believe it’s what is best for their child. I think you have a variety of reasons.
“Those are some of the variables we struggle with,” she said.
“I think a downward trend (in public school population) in this county has been going on for years,” Hastings explained. “When I came to the district, we had 13 elementary schools … we now have six.
“But we are in pretty good shape,” she added. “Our graduation rate is usually pretty stable. We do everything possible to keep students in school.”
The process for withdrawing a student from a school district is relatively easy, Hastings explained.
Parents enroll the student in another school and complete the proper paperwork to withdraw them.
After students reach the age of 17, if they miss 10 consecutive days of school without a proper excuse, the district sends letters notifying parents that the student has been “taken off the rolls.”
When the district notices a student has been missing days, they call and attempt to reach out to the families before that final measure is taken, Hastings said.
“Those are few and far between,” she said. “Usually, we’re able to work with students and keep them on the rolls.”
The district works to make sure parents know all the options that exist, Hastings said, including their in-house cyber academy.
“We are fortunate with our cyber academy … it has become an option for our students,” she added.
The cyber academy, which has approximately 120 kids enrolled in one or more classes, allows the district to “be as competitive as we can be and try to meet the needs of the students,” Hastings said.
With the option of taking certain coursework online and from home in conjunction with traditional brick and mortar classes, more flexibility is given to students struggling with attendance.
“That option does not exist for elementary students,” she said. “We do monitor those (cyber) students closely, and if a student is not progressing, we pull them back in.”