District’s enrollment growth a tale of demographic shifts
Hispanics represent 41 percent of Oklahoma City School District students
The Oklahoman Editorial
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Published: November 6, 2009
News that Oklahoma City now is home to the state’s largest school district flew mostly under the radar last week. But the challenges that growing enrollment and shifting demographics present are significant.
State education officials reported 42,750 students in the
Oklahoma City School District, surpassing
Tulsa, which has long been the state’s largest district. Of Oklahoma City’s 1,481 new students, 1,285 are Hispanic. Hispanic students now account for 41 percent of the district’s enrollment.
The obvious challenge is language. Many of the Hispanic students don’t speak or write English well and that requires extra work on the part of schools. That’s compounded by the reality that many of the students’ parents also don’t speak English, which makes helping their children and communicating with the school difficult.
But there’s also a challenge of logistics. Most of the district’s growth is on the south side.
Capitol Hill Elementary is the district’s largest elementary school, with more than 1,000 students. Several other south Oklahoma City elementary schools have more than 500 students, and the opening of a new school next year and 2007 bond money to build classrooms could relieve some of the enrollment pressure. Elsewhere in the city, very few schools reach that size.
Meantime in the northeast area of the district, enrollment is a far different story. Five of the 11 elementary schools in that area have fewer than 200 students. In fact, those five schools are the district’s smallest elementary schools. Only one school in the area — Willow Brook — has 500 or more students.
Two of the smallest schools — Green Pastures and Parker — are to be merged as part of the MAPS for Kids plan. In fact, MAPS for Kids called for closures and reorganizations that would put the average elementary school enrollment at about 592. This school year, the average (not including two charter elementary schools) is 412 — up slightly from the 352 average when MAPS for Kids went before voters in 2001.
The idea behind larger schools was in part one of economics. The district could better afford special but important programs like art, music and physical education with reasonably more students in fewer buildings. Take for example the two schools set to be merged. Green Pastures reported enrollment of 76 students. Parker has 105 students. When Green Pastures is fully renovated, school officials said it can house up to 370 students. That leaves a lot of extra space in an area that where enrollment is mostly stagnant, but at least the district will likely have one less old building to maintain on a day-to-day basis.
Superintendent Karl Springer said district officials are excited about the growth and are continuing to review enrollment projections. The latter is good news because as MAPS for Kids wraps up, the district must figure out a long-term plan for a demographic future that looks very different than the past. And perhaps make some more really tough choices.
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Steve, Oklahoma City: Thanks for a sensible post. Capitol Hill and South Oklahoma City have been revitalized by the current wave of Hispanic immigrants.