Staying on track

Enrollment numbers for Evangeline Parish are in and the data shows that our elementary and junior high grades are experiencing a decline in their number of students while the high schools in the parish are seeing a small increase overall.
In 2014 the total number of students in grades kindergarten through fourth in the parish was 2,462, while the enrollment numbers for 2015 are showing that the parish has 16 less students in these grades than the year before.
The two parish elementary schools that have experienced the largest decline in their enrollment numbers has been W.W. Stewart, whose numbers went down from 334 in 2014 to 306 in 2015, and Ville Platte Elementary, whose numbers have gone from 499 in 2014 to 469 in 2015.
While these two schools experienced the greatest loss in enrollment numbers from last year, Chataignier Elementary encountered a sizable increase in their school enrollment for grades kindergarten through fourth grade. Chataignier’s increase from 180 students in 2014 to 203 in 2015 may indicate that some students are merely leaving one parish school to attend another school within Evangeline Parish.
The 16 less students in Evangeline Parish’s elementary grades seems like nothing however, compared to the 66 less students the parish had in all of the fifth through eighth grades at the schools.
Higher numbers of students leaving Evangeline Parish schools will only mean less money for the parish from the state. “The state allots the parish a certain amount of money per student. But that money is based on the number of students so losing students could affect the amount of money the parish gets,” said School Board President Wayne Dardeau.
While Chataignier Elementary’s increase of students in kindergarten through fourth grade may have helped make up for the loss of elementary students parish wide, the school’s loss of 25 students in grades fifth through eighth only contributed to the substantial decrease in enrollment numbers.
The same number of schools experienced a decrease in the school enrollment numbers for both elementary grades and middle school grades. The amount that each school declined however, is what made the big difference.
While four schools’ enrollment numbers decreased for elementary, only two of those schools had a significant decrease which was W.W. Stewart and VPE. For the middle school grades though, three of the four schools had a large number of students leaving.
Along with Chataignier’s loss of 25 students, Ville Platte High’s enrollment numbers went down from 420 students fourth through eighth in 2014 to 390 in 2015.
Evangeline Central School also contributed to the drop in the number of junior high students with 21 less students right now than the 26 the school had at this time last year.
Although school enrollment numbers have declined from 2014 to 2015 in the lower grades, the parish’s high schools have managed to stay on the uptick.
The parish’s high schools’ (ninth - twelfth) student enrollment numbers increased from 1,543 students in November 2014 to 1,553 at this time. Not only did high school enrollment numbers slightly grow but also of the five high schools in the parish Ville Platte High was the only one to experience a decline in its student enrollment.
Ville Platte High principal Kellie Lafleur, at this time, had no comment on the issue concerning them being the only high school to experience a drop in enrollment.
Why some schools are losing students is hard to tell when only comparing numbers from two years, but Dardeau has a theory of why this could be happening and why it may continue. “I don’t know for sure why but I think that everything going on with the oil business could have something to do with it. This is a rural place and so if someone working offshore gets laid off it will be difficult to find another job in Evangeline Parish. That may be causing people to move out of the parish.”
Although the parish’s high schools have managed to have higher numbers this year than last year at this time, their growth has not been substantial enough to keep the overall student enrollment numbers from showing a decrease in enrollment throughout the parish. Evangeline Parish, who had 5,839 students enrolled kindergarten through 12th grade at this time last year, now has a total of 5,767.
The 72 less students this year may not seem like a significant difference, but this drop in numbers is something Dardeau said “might be a trend we will continue to see.”
However when you add in the pre-K numbers at each school the parish has a total of 6,047 students which according to Evangeline Parish Assistant Superintendent Darwan Lazard is normal. “The numbers will always change a little but over the years our numbers have remained around 6,000 students enrolled.”