York City School District Supt. Eric Holmes offered the school board an update on its “welcome home” campaign to try to urge students to return to the district from charter schools.
Holmes reported that 134 students returned from charter or cyber charter schools and 181 left for charters or cyber charters. He said the district is moving in the right direction.
During the recovery process, it was estimated that the number of students attending charters increased by about 8 percent each year. The district was losing about 200 students every year, and no one was returning.
Holmes said that since the district was able to draw some students back, that rate was reduced to 2 percent.
Efforts started this summer, which included block parties, direct visits to parents and other initiatives, will continue this year, he said. The goal is to bring back 250 students by the end of the year.
Here are some other interesting numbers from the report given to the board:
- During the summer “welcome home” campaign, 170 district staff members visited 1,362 homes and contacted 988 parents.
- McKinley Elementary School topped the list with 405 homes visited and 383 parents reached.
- William Penn Senior High School had the most students return from charter schools, with 42.
- Jackson Elementary School actually had a net gain of seven students. There, 17 students returned from charters and 10 left.
Holmes said the numbers will be updated in October, after charters report their enrollment to the district. (If there are new kids who went direct to charters, the district doesn’t know about them yet.) There will be quarterly reports on the enrollment efforts this year.
