Enrollment projected down in Othello School District

OTHELLO — After about two weeks of online and in-person registration, a lot of kids still haven’t registered for school in the Othello School District.

Thalia Lemus, assistant to Superintendent Chris Hurst, said 3,393 returning students had enrolled as of Aug. 10, and 147 new students. That’s far below the projection in the 2020-21 budget. “We are still down about 959 students” from the budget projection, Lemus said.

Lemus gave an update to the Othello School Board at its Aug. 10 meeting. Parents of about 20 students have notified district officials they will not enroll their kids and are opting for homeschooling.

In other cases, parents are still making up their minds. “I have called some families to see if they would like to register their students, and they have informed me they’re still in the process of thinking about it,” Lemus said. “They are still researching their options and trying to figure it out.”

Executive Director of Business Services Janette Bumgarner said the district receives state funding based on its budget projection until January, when funding is adjusted to reflect actual enrollment. “We will know the enrollment impact prior to January, and so we will be monitoring that situation closely,” Bumgarner said.

Lemus said district personnel are contacting parents and registering kids by phone. Parents also have the option of online registration, and can register at the district office.

School starts Aug. 27, and in late July district officials announced that all instruction will be online, at least at the start of the school year.

Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Pete Perez said district officials are planning a “soft opening,” where instruction will be delayed a few days. Parents and students will meet with teachers, who will explain how online instruction will work and lay out their expectations of students.

Secretary of Health John Wiesman said parents will get details pertaining to their child’s class and their child’s instruction. “When they meet with the teacher it’ll be, ‘for our class, our session time will be here when it’s live,’ or ‘this will be the time and how you access information in (online) classrooms.’ So there’s going to be conversations around when and where and the schedules and how to access those tools,” Wiesman said.

Wiesman said the soft opening would be for all grade levels. “Because everything is so new,” he said. District officials think that extra help for parents and students at the beginning of the school year will pay dividends later.

“If we can really establish what schedules will be, what that looks like, and how to access those tools and information, and we can get that in those beginning days, we feel that will allow us to be more efficient across the system,” Wiesman said.