Students disappearing from El Tejon School District
LEBEC, Calif.-- A curious phenomena is happening in the El Tejon Unified School District. Students once filing district classrooms have been disappearing from roll sheets.
Enrollment hit an all time low this year after peaking in 1996. Veteran Math and Science teacher Mark Hellman said the trend has continued to get worse across the district.
"At this site, we were using every classroom, we had four classes of every grade," said Hellman, who teaches at El Tejon school.
Figures show the district had a total of 1,433 students enrolled in grades k-12 in 1996. Since then enrollment has been declining. According to superintendent Katie Kleier, enrollment is down to 980 students in 2012, which is a drop of 32 percent.
Senior Planner Peter Smith with Kern Council of Governments attributes much of the decline in the area to people having fewer children.
"The number of school aged children between 5-19 has dropped," said Smith.
In 2000, there were 1,748 young people between the ages of 5-19 in the area served by El Tejon Unified. That number dropped in 2010 to 1,123, a decline of 625 young people, said Smith.
"It happens a lot in areas that are economically depressed," said Smith.
The decline has taken a financial toll as well. Schools receive funding based on enrollment. Fewer students means fewer dollars from the state. The toll is compounded as the district has had to lay off staff and teachers and combined classes, creating more crowded classrooms.
Books are worn and tattered and there are virtually no extra curricular activities for students. Classrooms at El Tejon School sit vacant and used for storage and two portables are no longer in use.
Another factor contributing to the declining enrollment are the parents choosing to home school their children. Some criticize the school district for not doing a better job to maintain the students it does have.
"A lot of people are starting to look elsewhere for school," said Josh Kern who graduated from Frazier Mountain High School in 2010.
The district has hired a firm called Public Consulting from Sacramento to conduct a study on the impact of its declining enrollment and what action to take. Options include possibly closing a campus.
The study isn't expected to be completed until October and then presented to the school board for action.
Enrollment hit an all time low this year after peaking in 1996. Veteran Math and Science teacher Mark Hellman said the trend has continued to get worse across the district.
"At this site, we were using every classroom, we had four classes of every grade," said Hellman, who teaches at El Tejon school.
Figures show the district had a total of 1,433 students enrolled in grades k-12 in 1996. Since then enrollment has been declining. According to superintendent Katie Kleier, enrollment is down to 980 students in 2012, which is a drop of 32 percent.
Senior Planner Peter Smith with Kern Council of Governments attributes much of the decline in the area to people having fewer children.
"The number of school aged children between 5-19 has dropped," said Smith.
In 2000, there were 1,748 young people between the ages of 5-19 in the area served by El Tejon Unified. That number dropped in 2010 to 1,123, a decline of 625 young people, said Smith.
"It happens a lot in areas that are economically depressed," said Smith.
The decline has taken a financial toll as well. Schools receive funding based on enrollment. Fewer students means fewer dollars from the state. The toll is compounded as the district has had to lay off staff and teachers and combined classes, creating more crowded classrooms.
Books are worn and tattered and there are virtually no extra curricular activities for students. Classrooms at El Tejon School sit vacant and used for storage and two portables are no longer in use.
Another factor contributing to the declining enrollment are the parents choosing to home school their children. Some criticize the school district for not doing a better job to maintain the students it does have.
"A lot of people are starting to look elsewhere for school," said Josh Kern who graduated from Frazier Mountain High School in 2010.
The district has hired a firm called Public Consulting from Sacramento to conduct a study on the impact of its declining enrollment and what action to take. Options include possibly closing a campus.
The study isn't expected to be completed until October and then presented to the school board for action.
I agree with you both, I moved here in 2010 and I have a school age child but I refused to put my daughter in this system. I was a teacher for years and I recognize a broken district and I didnât want my daughter to suffer with that. The school board bought themselves new Kindle Fires for meetings but couldnât figure out a bully policy for students. They want to close a school but drop over $14,000 on a private company to do âFacility assessments,â give me a break. Certain teachers are abusive and administrators look the other way and some teacherâs donât teach at all and get away with it. My niece has been in these schools for years, she has been bullied, ignored and neglected, and my neighbor kids tell me what goes on and I think it is sick that it is allowed to continue. I am also sick of the attitude that this town gossips and there is no truth to anything (and students being blamed), really then why have so many of us picked home schooling over El Tejon.
 I will never put my daughter in one of the schools in the Mountain Community and I will most likely have to move when she reaches high school because although I love it here, I do not have the ability to put her in the district out here and flush her future down the toilet. These kids are not being taught or prepared for university; they are barely getting enough education for community college, why have these schools decided that the kids in this area are not worth fighting for. That is why people pull their kids, they want to be able to trust that their kids are being taught the best and being prepared for life not babysat till 3pm or passing the time till 18 years old.
I agree with the comment below. People are pulling their kids out because the way the school is ran and the lack of employees in every aspect!!! I have a child within the district that I would like to take out but currently can not, I will be doing so due to overcrowding, lack of help, and lack of knowledgeable staff. I have had too many problems with the school and no one that works there seems to care and put the blame on either the students or the parent. It's a complete joke!!! I can't wait to pull my child out and make it so that the school is getting one less on funding cause they don't use it properly anyways!!!Â
@SJ
The superintendent gave herself a raise you think that was a proper way to spend funds, check it out
http://mountainenterprise.com/atf.php?sid=10173¤t_edition=2012-04-20
she doesnât care about our town or our kids, she only cares about the money, the district car she uses and the gas the tax payers reimburse her, the first order of business is getting rid of administration that abuses the system and hurts our schools.
WHOA! I am furious at the comment that the reason our school district is declining is because of residents haveing fewer children???! I don't think so. The reason for the districts decline is due to favortisim and greed by our "so called" administration. Yep... I said it. Parents are pulling their children because of poor teaching, kids being bullied and anyone in any kind of authorative position turning a blind eye to it because most of the bullies are children of parents who are "pillars" of our community. The best way to bring the students back and help our schools is to STOP LAYING OFF GREAT TEACHERS, stop catering to the lower income families, and TEACH! Sacrafice a few "perks" that our administration and counsel take advantage of and put the kids first