Spokane7
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September 16, 2011 in City
Students deluge districts
Tight labor market believed behind jump in enrollment
Recess was a busy time Wednesday for kindergartner Isaiah Rodriguez, foreground, at Whitman Elementary.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)
Megan Elliott is an experienced elementary school teacher, but she wasn’t prepared for an overcrowded kindergarten class.
“We are just actually getting to the point where we can function,” said Elliot, who has 29 children in her class at Spokane’s Whitman Elementary School. “It will be easier when the class is smaller.”
When administrators estimated enrollment figures for Spokane Public Schools, they didn’t anticipate 112 extra kindergartners showing up for class on the first day. The district had to add five classes.
Central Valley and West Valley school districts also had a sudden surge of 5-year-olds.
To accommodate them, area districts have scrambled the past two weeks to hire more teachers and add kindergarten classes.
“We are seeing an influx of families from a distance,” said Melanie Rose, Central Valley School District spokeswoman. “Some people are moving here and into homes with other families.”
The sour economy, once again, is the culprit for unanticipated change.
“People come here to look for jobs because we have the largest job base between Seattle and Minneapolis,” said Doug Tweedy, the regional state labor economist. “They don’t necessarily find jobs, but they move here for better opportunity and the possibility of finding jobs.”
In the past year, population growth in Ferry, Pend Oreille and Stevens counties dropped about 2 percent after five years of keeping pace with the state, according to Northeast Washington Trends, a website operated by Eastern Washington University. Unemployment rates in those counties are in the double digits.
The labor force in Spokane County has grown by 7,000 people in the past year, and most of them are between the ages of 20 and 35, and therefore likely to have children, he added.
Central Valley saw more children than it was expecting as of late summer, and added a class at the last minute. But compared with last year, the district has 33 fewer kindergartners. West Valley is up two kindergarten classes, about 47 youngsters, officials said. Meanwhile, East Valley, Mead and Coeur d’Alene school districts’ kindergarten enrollment remained flat or only increased by two to 10 children.
Bev Lund, Whitman Elementary School’s principal, said kindergartners can be the most challenging.
“Most of them have not been in preschool, so this is their first school experience,” she said.
Kindergartner Justcice Matte was adjusting to it. “It’s fun. But I get too tired.”
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The_Seer on September 16 at 10:00 a.m.
The migration from rural areas to urban cores also occurred during the Great Depression.
tobiasg on September 16 at 10:13 a.m.
It’s Obama’s fault! And the greedy teachers!
liberal_in_right_wing_land on September 16 at 11:55 a.m.
Hmmm…..you would think that there would be less student with all the tea bagging republicans in the area chirping about how bad these union teachers are and how students are better off not even going to school.
hunternomore on September 26 at 3:11 p.m.
So let me get this straight. Spokane has the largest job base between Seattle and Minneapolis? Then the country is in BIG trouble. Three years unemployed, educated here, tons of experience and not even ONE phone call. And people are actually MOVING here to get a job. Unbelievable!