HOUSTON — Houston ISD’s superintendent and others will be hitting the streets this weekend to try and reach students who have yet to show up this semester.
“Trying to get children, our young people, back to school,” HISD Trustee Kathy Blueford-Daniels said.
Blueford-Daniels plans on participating in her district, which includes Kashmere High School. They'll go door-to-door to encourage students to re-enroll.
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"Right now, we’re almost at our mark, our projected mark of over 190,000 students that we projected our budget on,” Blueford-Daniels said.
At one point last school year, HISD was down about 15,000 students when virtual learning and other issues are believed to have impacted enrollment.
In Spring ISD, which saw a 5% enrollment decline last year, an annual “Success Walk” took place last weekend.
And while many districts continue to try and recapture students, others have exceeded their enrollment projections.
Cy-Fair ISD, the state’s third-largest district, has 352 extra students as of this week while fast-growing Katy ISD is over-enrolled by nearly 800 students.
Spring Branch ISD credits, among other things, robust online outreach for upping projected enrollment by nearly 400 students.
Fort Bend ISD isn’t off its mark by much and is working to recapture students not currently enrolled.
"Multiple departments are working in tandem to plan and conduct these outreach efforts,” the district said in a statement.
Blueford-Daniels said enrollment means money. But making sure students are engaged is the priority.
"So they can catch up from learning loss from last year so they can graduate on time and move forward," she said.
Some families have chosen to enroll in online or virtual school districts amid the pandemic and may not return to traditional schools.