The Sitka School District has 25 fewer students than expected. At its regular November meeting (11/08/16), Superintendent Mary Wegner told the school board the current enrollment is about 1,273 students, not the projected 1,300 students.
“Kids are leaving town, families are leaving town in addition to the Coast Guard,” Wegner explained.
Wegner said it’s kindergarten in particular that’s losing students and, she said, not for the first time.
“Last year [kindergarten enrollment] was lower than anticipated and we moved a kindergarten teacher to fourth grade, because fourth grade was up, so this is a trend.”
Wegner said the numbers still need to be confirmed. After that, the board will have to budget for the district’s loss at its next meeting in December.
Along with budgeting for underenrollment, Wegner wants to district to be proactive about raising current student achievement and, to do that, she wants to see a “living, breathing,” mission statement. The one the school district has now is too long and complicated, Wegner said.
“It doesn’t fit on a coffee cup. It’s too fractured, and it doesn’t help us understand our organizational purpose.”
Wegner used examples from around to country, which she said show a correlation between short mission statements and high graduation rates. One of those examples was the school district in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.
“Their mission state is, ‘Opening the door to each child’s future.’ It’s their one thing that they live, breathe, do at every level. They went from graduation rates about where our’s are, about 70 percent, they are now at 99 percent graduation rates,” Wegner explained.
The next step is to recruit community members to be part of a stakeholder group, which will meet to discuss a new, more concise mission statement. Wegner said that meeting is scheduled for January 14.
