District: Kindergarten Enrollments Higher Than Projected

New Canaan Public Schools officials said Monday that overall enrollment expected to rise in the 2019-20 academic year, with kindergarten seeing a particularly large increase.

The district as of now is expecting to get 306 kindergarteners in the fall, up from 233 last October and also up from the 247 that previously had been projected, according to Director of Human Resources Darlene Pianka. 

Kindergarten enrollments haven’t been that high for “at least six years,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi said at the Board of Education’s regular meeting, held in the Wagner Room at New Canaan High School.

“If that holds and if trends continue, I would anticipate that that will become the largest grade in our district for the foreseeable future,” he said.

Overall, 61 more students are enrolled in New Canaan Public Schools for the upcoming academic year than projected last year when the Board put together its spending plan.

First-grade enrollments exceed projections by 16 students, and total high school enrollments by 15, according to the data cited by Pianka. On the other hand, pre-K enrollments are 12 students below projections, and second-grade students are 17 below. 

Pianka noted that enrollment numbers are subject to change. 

“Between now and around August 5th we’ll continue to see some movement out of the district and back in,” she said. 

That type of activity reinforces how difficult it is to predict kindergarten numbers, Luizzi said.

“This past year, our kindergarten numbers were a little bit lower than we had anticipated,” he said.

NewCanaanite.com reported last August that kindergarten enrolment in 2018 was 46 students below the projected figure. It was thought at that time by New Canaan Public Schools staff that this could represent a downward trend in kindergarten enrollments, but this year’s numbers suggest otherwise.  

“One year does not a trend make,” Luizzi said at Monday’s meeting.

One effect rising enrollment in first grade could be the need to add another section, reducing class numbers from a projected 21.2, as figures currently stand—higher than the current class size guidelines of 20 students for K-3—to “the high 17s,” Luizzi said.

Board Chairman Brendan Hayes said, “It’s great to see a lot of kids beginning school in New Canaan.”

Pianka said that district officials are working to ensure staffing levels are appropriate.