By JEFF MORRIS
Katonah-Lewisboro School District enrollment remains flat, with a slight decrease for the 2024-25 school year, according to a recent presentation by Neill Alleva, assistant superintendent for human resources, at a school board meeting.
Total district enrollment for 2024 was projected to be 2,809 students, Alleva told the board Aug. 22. The current number is 2,776, which is, as always, subject to last-minute fluctuation.
In 2023, the total was projected at 2,843, and the actual number in October of last year was 2,792.
“Once again, we’re decreasing,” trustee Lorraine Gallagher said upon seeing the numbers. “I was hopeful that we were beyond that and we would start increasing, but it’s not happening.”
“The reality is, we see those birth rates are just historically down in our area, down in New York state, certainly down in this particular part of the region,” Superintendent of Schools Raymond Blanch replied.
He said he would not anticipate an increase in numbers any time in the near future, but added, “the scope of our work as educators, continues to increase forever more.”
Alleva stressed that there are favorable class sizes throughout the district.
He showed the contractually obligated class size parameters:
For kindergarten through second grade, the goal is a class size of 20, with a range up to 25.
In grade three, the goal is 25, ranging up to 28.
Grades four to six have a goal of 25, and a range up to 30.
In grades seven to 12, the goal is 25, and the limit is 30, though there may be exceptions in specialized classes.
In individual elementary schools, Increase Miller has class sizes ranging from 16.3 averaged over four kindergarten sections to highs of 22.8 in four third-grade sections and 22.6 in four fifth-grade sections.
Fourth grade at IMES, however, has only three sections, with an average of 20.8 students in each.
Katonah Elementary has an average kindergarten class size of 17.5 over four sections, and its highest number is 24 over three fifth-grade sections.
Meadow Pond averages 17 students over three kindergarten sections, and has an average of 21 in both fourth and fifth grades, which have three sections each. Its lowest class size is 14.3 averaged over three first grade sections.
Alleva pointed out that one of the four kindergarten classes at Katonah Elementary was a contingency position that was added in the budget. The total number of kindergarten students at KES was 58 in October 2023; it was projected to be 66.
“Right now we’re hovering at about 70,” he said. “This is a snapshot of where we were a few days ago. These numbers can fluctuate in the last couple of weeks of August, even into the early weeks of September, but this is where we are now.”
Alleva also noted that part of the decrease in total students at IMES from 497 in October 2023 to 472 now was due to moving special education classes to Meadow Pond, where there is a correlating increase from 333 in October 2023 to 355 now.
Trustee Marjorie Schiff asked whether the special education class population has increased, since there were 12 students in those classes at IMES in 2023, and the number at MPES is 27. She was told that yes, there was an increase, which is why a section of special classes was added.
The projected total number of elementary students in 2023 was 1,266; the actual in October 2023 was 1,231. This year the projection is for 1,250; the actual number so far in August is 1,229.
There were 671 total students at John Jay Middle School in October 2023; the projection for 2024 was 632, and the number now is 628.
The number coming into the middle school in sixth grade is 198; Alleva pointed out that there were 248 eighth graders in October 2023, and a larger class left the school to become freshmen in high school than there are incoming students.
That is reflected at John Jay High School, where there were 209 ninth graders in October 2023, and there are currently 246 coming in. That contributes to a slight increase in the total number of JJHS students, from 890 to 919; the projection was 927.
Blanch asked whether it was possible the numbers could increase in the coming days.
Alleva said there are people talking to the district registrar, so it’s possible it could go up a little bit, but the total will be around what was presented. In response to a question from Gallagher, Alleva and Blanch both said it was most unlikely that there could be a last-minute increase in students that might push any class sizes past the contractual maximums.