Student enrollment was trending downward in Outer Cape schools following the COVID-19 pandemic, but new data shows a recent departure from that trend.
That's according to Lauren Hakimi of the Provincetown Independent.
CAI's Gilda Geist spoke to Lauren to learn more.
Gilda Geist Walk us through how enrollment on the Outer Cape has changed in recent years.
Lauren Hakimi So, after the pandemic, enrollment on the Outer Cape took a huge downturn. Many people who I've talked to have attributed that downturn to the high cost of housing on the Outer Cape. Last year, I interviewed a mom whose son had been attending Truro Central School, and he really liked it. But the mom could no longer afford the $1,950 rent she was paying on the Eastham cottage they were living in. So, they moved to Brewster and they pulled out of Truro Central School, and I think other people might resonate with that experience. So, there's hope that if the Outer Cape can manage to add more affordable housing developments and otherwise address the housing issue, it will help increase the enrollment.
GG What are the latest enrollment trends in the school districts you looked at? What do school leaders make of this data?
LH So, I looked at all of the elementary schools from Provincetown to Eastham. And in Provincetown and Eastham, enrollment declined. In Wellfleet, it stayed about the same. Wellfleet lost one student and Truro gained 12 students. So, I think at least in Truro and Wellfleet, part of what we're seeing is the effects of the new Lawrence Hill housing development that opened earlier this year. Both of those schools are seeing new students from that development. And in Truro, local leaders are excited about the boost, given that in recent years they've struggled so much. And I think there's also a hope in Truro that early next year, when people start moving into the new Cloverleaf affordable housing development, which is going to have, I believe, 43 units, that will help sustain the enrollment boost. But here at the paper, we're keeping a special eye on Wellfleet because there was a state-funded study this year that laid out a few regionalization scenarios in which Wellfleet could be merged with other schools or could be closed in 10 years. And local leaders in Wellfleet were really upset about that. So, I think they're going to be trying to show that they can stand on their feet, so to speak.
GG You also reported that Truro seems to be successfully attracting more families to enroll their kids in school there via school choice, including some students from the Wellfleet school district [Nauset Public Schools]. So, what, if anything, has changed in Truro that's led to that outcome?
LH So, Truro has a few different features that they believe are giving them a leg up. One is that Turo has pre-K. Wellfleet and Eastham do not have pre-K. Truro also takes a lot of pride in its special education services, and they said a couple of their new students this year have special needs. But the main reason that I encountered that's kind of interesting is that Truro is placing limits on screen time in the classroom. And I obtained the school choice applications that parents filled out when they were applying to send their kids to Truro Central School, and in those applications, two parents or guardians said that they were attracted to Truro's screen time policies. One of them said that Truro has less screen and technology use than other schools. And it's hard to kind of do a head-to-head comparison because the schools are not necessarily counting the minutes that their students spend on screens. But in July, Truro actually released a screen usage report based on surveys they did with teachers in each grade, tracking the time that their students were spending on screens. And pre-K students spent no time at all with screens, but as you increase the grade level, they spend more and more time. And 6th graders, which is the oldest grade that Truro Central School serves, they had about one hour a day with their Chromebook laptops and another hour each day with smart boards.
