Student enrollment fluctuates in Stafford almost weekly, according to Superintendent Steven A. Moccio at the November 13, 2023, Board of Education (BOE) meeting. As of September 29, 2023, the district had 1,330 students, a decrease of 78 students from last year. By November 1, 2023, the student count was at 1,326.
The biggest change in enrollment happens between eighth and ninth grade as students choose to attend other schools. For instance, of this year’s ninth graders:
Seven students attend the Academy for Agriculture, Science, and Technology Education in Rockville
Two students at the E.O. Smith’s Agricultural Education program
Eight students are at Cheney Technical High School
Six students went to East Catholic High School
One each went to Ellis and Prince Technical High Schools
Six chose Windham Technical High School
All public schools must provide these magnet and specialized schools with access to students for recruitment purposes. However, the Stafford school district is still responsible for students who choose to attend some other schools. While the school system pays “tuition” for students to attend the other public schools, they are also, in some cases, required to provide transportation. For instance, the district is responsible for transporting students to Rockville but not E.O. Smith.
Meanwhile, Moccio says the district has 48 students that it is aware of participating in homeschooling. That is four fewer than last year, but homeschooling laws are pretty lax, and parents are only requested to notify the schools of their intent to homeschool. There is no requirement that they do so.
Despite the declining enrollment, class sizes in some of the lower grades have increased due to budget cuts, which means there are fewer teachers. For instance, fourth-grade classes have 22 students per classroom as there are only four teachers.
Outgoing BOE Chair Laura Lybarger said Stafford will likely have difficulty keeping students in the district if it cannot pay teachers competitively. Moccio confirmed this, saying he had participated in exit interviews recently where it was clear the staff’s decision to leave “really came down to dollars.”
BOE member-elect — who has not yet started her term on the board — Jennifer Biedrzycki was watching at home due to illness in the family but took the opportunity to chime in during the public comment section. She expressed her frustration over staff regularly leaving the district, including a social worker who recently left the high school for another school district. She suggested that the district do a market analysis to show how Stafford’s salaries compare to those in other districts so people can see what the district is competing with.
Stay tuned for more coverage from this meeting, where several other issues arose.
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