Durham Public Schools losing students during the pandemic. Here’s where they’re going.
Crystal Dreisbach and her family were ready to push through the initial challenges of virtual school at Sandy Ridge Elementary, she said.
Dreisbach and her co-parent, Clinton Dreisbach, bought Chromebooks for their Durham Public Schools kindergartner, Thorin, who just turned 6, and third-grader, Dash, 9.
They set up desks, almost like mini classrooms, she said, complete with electrical outlets taped to the desk and fidget chairs.
The Dreisbachs helped their boys navigate Zoom and online sites while working full time. They hoped the family would adjust and tried to manage Dash’s anxiety over staring at all his classmates on Zoom. And all of them staring at him.
About three weeks in, the 9-year-old collapsed to the floor in tears, begging his parents not to make him continue.
“I was crushed,” Dreisbach said. “I didn’t feel like we were doing right by the kids.”
After some research and consulting with friends, the family signed up for home school.
“It has been 90% of our pandemic stress lifted off our shoulders,” Dreisbach said touting its flexible schedule and curriculum that can cater to students’ interests and strengths. “It felt like such a huge relief.”
The family has plenty of company in Durham and across the state.
Decline in public school enrollment
In the first month of the school year, Durham Public Schools’ average daily population fell to 30,739 students, 1,737 below the same time last year. In the second month of school, it was down nearly 4%.
The loss marks the first time the school system’s enrollment has fallen by four figures in recent years. Just last year it celebrated a 480-student increase after four years of declines, according to 20th day figures used to calculate official enrollment and decide how much state funding the district receives.
“DPS enrollment decline was unexpected but understandable considering the toll that COVID has taken on our community,” said DPS spokesperson Chip Sudderth.
Some students have moved to charter schools that are meeting in person, but Sudderth attributed much of the decline to parents waiting a year to send their children to kindergarten or turning to home schooling. More than 400, or about a quarter of the decline in enrollment, was in kindergarten, he said.
“To the best of our knowledge, what we are losing our students to is home school,” he said.
Increase in NC home school notices
The N.C. Department of Administration’s Division of Non-Public Education doesn’t track by county the notices parents have to send when they move to home school, but across the state the notices have increased 170% to 16,790 from July to Nov. 1, compared to the same period last year.
Statewide, overall public school enrollment is down by more than 50,000 students from last school year. But the drop is in traditional public schools, while charter school enrollment has continued to grow.
Even before the pandemic, charter schools had been gaining more students annually at the expense of the traditional public schools. But the trend accelerated this school year.
There were 62,926 fewer students in traditional public schools in the second month of classes compared to the same period last year. In contrast, charter school enrollment was up 8,424 students.
Enrollment and school funding
Concerns about enrollment during the pandemic led state lawmakers to maintain state funding levels this school year for districts with fewer students.
“In the long run, however, we need to win those families back because state funding formulas are based on enrollment numbers,” Sudderth said.
Meanwhile, officials anticipating tight budgets are being cautious about filling vacant positions, he said.
Last month, Durham school officials tentatively approved a plan to bring some students back for in-person instruction next semester.
Tiffany Foster, president of the Durham Council PTA, said she is not surprised by the decline. The pandemic forced parents to re-evaluate their options.
“I actually had one of my council board members who opted to home school,” Foster said.
Foster has had concerns about virtual schooling and how much information the district is sharing, and said she hopes DPS will increase its outreach and listen to parents.
Two brothers
As the 2020 school year approached, Dreisbach and her family were so excited the boys would be at Sandy Ridge together.
“Just knowing they would both be there in case they needed each other,” she said.
Before the pandemic, Dreisbach, who is a supporter of public schools, was working at least 40 hours working for Don’t Waste Durham, a nonprofit focused on trash reductions that she founded in 2013.
As the boys’ primary caregiver, she is down to working one hour a day.
When it was clear that in-person school would not resume this fall, the family prepared for virtual school. But even as the parents explained to their active boys they would be sitting watching the computer all day, Dreisbach was skeptical.
After the first three weeks, the family started evaluating other options. They turned to friends who were enrolled in home school. The families shared resources and support.
Now, Dreisbach said, they still have structure and lessons, but learning is done on their own time.
“We can pause, go to the park ... when they feel they need to get their sillies out,” she said. She called it a “PE class.”
Still, Dreisbach said, they hope to return to Sandy Ridge soon.
“Once school is back in-person full-time and we feel it is safe, then we definitely will,” she said.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 5:50 AM.
