KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – As schools have transitioned to virtual learning amidst the coronavirus pandemic, new data shows tens of thousands of students didn’t show up to Michigan public schools as expected. That includes a 5% drop for Kalamazoo Public Schools.
The website Chalkbeat Detroit reports enrollment shrank in the state by 53,200 students, or 3.7%, according to newly compiled enrollment data. That’s twice as many students as the state lost during 2009-2010, the last year of the Great Recession, which was the largest drop in more than a decade.
The website says the figures underscore the disruptive effect of the pandemic on thousands of students’ educations. Some families may have moved during the pandemic because of job loss or housing instability, while others are home-schooling their children. But many students are not accounted for, and educators worry that they aren’t attending school at all.
More than three-quarters of Michigan school districts, including charter schools, lost students. Dozens of districts, including in Flint, Oak Park, and Jackson, saw their enrollement shrink by more than 10%.
Virtually all of the state’s largest districts lost students. The Lansing Public School District lost 927 or 9%; Utica Community Schools lost 926 or 4%; Grand Rapids Public Schools lost 876 or 6%; Kalamazoo lost 690 or 5%.
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