Winthrop schools looking at increasing enrollment

While some school districts in the region are seeing decreases in school enrollment, that’s not the case in Winthrop.

At last week’s Winthrop School Committee meeting, Superintendent of Schools Lisa Howard said the district is currently up to 2,002 enrolled students.

“Those numbers are highest in the seventh grade, with 168 students and lowest in the 11th grade with 124; which is not a dip in enrollment, it has been that class size pretty much right along, give or take four or five students,” said Howard.

The superintendent noted that as of last week’s meeting, there were still 18 students in pre-registration, meaning that they are in line to enroll in the district.

“Keep in mind, especially at that beginning of the school year when you are hearing the total number of students who have enrolled, there’s also a total number of students that have left,” said Howard. “That number at the 12th grade level is important, because sometimes we have 155 students at the 12th grade level and the incoming 11th grade class is much smaller; so there is a lot that goes into the total number of kids that have enrolled in the total year round number,” said Howard. “We are averaging an increase of about 25 in the bottom line number. I know that four or five years ago, the number was 1,967 and that’s been slowly creeping up.”

In other business, the school committee held a moment of silence in honor of Margaret “Pat” Connors and Leanne Silverman. Connors spent 26 years in the Winthrop school department, beginning as an aide at the Willis School before retiring from the payroll department in 2014. Silverman was a fourth grade teacher for 28 years.

Howard also addressed an uptick in public records requests from the school department.

“(They) are not necessarily from parents, but from groups that are seeking information about schools,” said Howard.

Howard said she has been in touch with other superintendents in the region who said they have also been dealing with various groups sending out emails with public records requests. The requests are often focused on documentation of where the districts have purchased different services from vendors, she said.

“We try to get them out as quickly as possible,” said Howard. “This is not just Winthrop, this is sort of a routine thing that is happening across the state. The superintendents’ association is somewhat helpful in giving you advice about what to do, but the bottom line is you have to respond in 10 days either with what they are requesting for information, or you can ask for an extension.”