Batavia school enrollment drops

There are nearly 163 fewer students saying "present" this year when attendance is taken in Batavia public schools.

It's the first time in at least nine years that enrollment declined. Enrollment figures, collected on the sixth day of school, were released this week.

Alan McCloud, Batavia's assistant superintendent for elementary education, believes two things might be responsible: A decline in home sales and the opening of a new parochial school.

"The Holy Cross influence is no doubt part of our declining enrollment," McCloud said. Holy Cross Catholic Church in Batavia opened a school for kindergarten through eighth grade in August, with more than 250 students. McCloud said he does not know how many Holy Cross students are from Batavia and how many are from nearby towns.

The decline in the sale of new homes means new families are not moving in to the district. If new families aren't moving in, and old families aren't moving out of their existing homes, enrollment could stagnate or drop, as children age out of the schools.

The district has 6,104 students.

Enrollment declined by 165 students in grades kindergarten through fifth, and 27 in high school. But there are 29 more students at Rotolo Middle School.

The largest groups are sixth grade, with 519 students; seventh grade, with 503; and 11th grade, with 484.

Last year at this time, a company hired by the district predicted growth of 1 to 1.5 percent a year for five years.

Eleven of 127 elementary class sections have enrollments that exceed district standards, with east side Louise White Elementary School having the most, at six. Grace McWayne School, west of Randall Road, had none. McCloud said at Louise White, part of the problem is one of four second-grade classrooms is too small, and can only hold 18 children, as opposed to the district standard of 22 for students in grades kindergarten through second. If all 90 second-graders were spread out, only one of those class sections would exceed the guideline. (Three first-grade sections at Louise White exceed the guideline by one student each.)

McCloud stressed that the district has no plans to change school attendance boundaries based on these figures.

• In Geneva, enrollment grew by 20 students, or less than 1 percent. There were 5,938 students enrolled as of the sixth day of school.

• In West Aurora District 129, there were 17 fewer students, or 12,436, as of the 10th day of attendance. Fearn Elementary School in North Aurora has 30 more students, but Goodwin, also in North Aurora, has 33 fewer. Jewel Middle School in North Aurora is down 8, and Schneider Elementary School in North Aurora is down 17.

Figures were not available from Kaneland and St. Charles school districts.