Kendall County Times

A Kansas-based education planning firm projected that Oswego Community School District #308 will likely see a decrease in student enrollment in the next five years, Patch reported.

RSP & Associates CEO Robert Schwarz discussed the projection during a recent remote school board meeting and noted that uncertainty about COVID-19, along with the pandemic itself, will affect enrollment. Schwarz also said that the coronavirus would also affect layoffs and furloughs, Patch reported.

Superintendent Dr. John Sparlin said during the meeting that they were watching staffing numbers.

Superintendent Sparlin | https://www.sd308.org/

"Enrollment projections are something we keep a continuous eye on as they affect our staffing, as well as what our capacity looks like for each of our #308 schools," Sparlin told Patch.

RSP & Associates estimates that approximately 450 students will leave the district over the next five years, with a decrease of about 400 at the junior high level and 50 at the high school level. However, the firm projects an increase of about 100 students at the elementary school level, according to Patch.

Schwarz suggested the school district engage with its parents and guardians via surveys, and school board member Toni Morgan asked about boundary changes. Schwarz told the board that future kindergarten enrollment could be between 1,000 and 1,200 if all housing development projects that are planned occur in a reasonable timeframe, Patch reported. 

For the last five years, kindergarten enrollment has been below 1,200.

Schwarz also looked at instructional capacity challenges, noting that the capacity was determined by how many students live within the school's boundary, along with how many students attend each school building and how many students actually reside in the school's boundary.

The school district currently has 13 elementary schools, five junior high schools and two high schools, and serves 68.8 square miles within Kendall, Will and Kane counties. There are just over 18,000 students in the district, which is the seventh-largest district in the state.