APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – It has been a frustrating start to the year for many parents in the Appleton School District.
The district says enrollment is down almost 400 students this year. Some parents say it’s because of the district’s decision to continue all virtual learning.
George Brown and Keith Doszak say all-virtual learning wasn’t working for their kids.
“We felt we had to do something,” Brown said. “Now, she’s enrolled at Little Chute, and it’s been a complete 180.”
Doszak tells FOX 11 for his kids to want to go back to school spoke volumes.
“My kids, they’re no different than any other 4th and 6th grade boys. They don’t wanna go to school, they wanna play video games and, for them to tell us in early September, when we finally got the ability to enter this private school, ‘We wanna go!’ That told me enough that, hey, they’ve been gone long enough.”
Appleton Area Schools students haven’t been to an in-person class all year.
Brown tells FOX 11 even his daughter, an honor roll student and Appleton East sophomore, couldn’t keep up.
“As a parent, it was really disheartening to find out that she was behind. That only took less than a month and, at that point, it’s only gonna get worse.”
That’s when Brown decided to transfer her to Little Chute.
“When she got to Little Chute, and the teachers were trying to basically give her an assessment of where she was at, it was pretty clear that she had some work to do.”
According to the Appleton Area School District, 916 open enrolled students have transferred out of the district.
“That number – 900, is definitely real,” said Doszak. “I believe it’s much more impactful than the 900 that they’re reporting.”
Brown says, the number shows that parents have had enough.
“It’s pretty clear that people are doing what’s best for their kids. They gotta do something!”
But, more than 2,000 students have also open enrolled into the Appleton Area School District.
“Both are the highest numbers we’ve ever had, but our net difference in enrollment of 1,218 is the most we’ve ever had,” AASD financial officer Greg Hartjes said.
Overall enrollment dropped from 16,067 students last year down to 15,690 this year. Hartjes tells FOX 11 220 of these students are in 4K.
“That’s obviously related to COVID. We know that a lot of folks said, ‘There’s no sense in sending my four-year-old to school, when I can keep them at home, and I’ll just enter them in kindergarten next year.’”
Parents FOX 11 spoke with say they’re happy with the decision they made, but they aren’t happy about the reason they had to make it. They say, even if the Appleton Area School District does go back to in-person, they don’t think their kids will ever come back.
It’s been great, and I don’t know that she’ll go back to East,” Brown said. “There’s a possibility she stays at Little Chute.”
AASD also says enrollment at the Wisconsin Connections Academy Online had been declining for several years, but its enrollment boomed this year. WCA went up by 719 students, with its enrollment going from 523 to 1,242.
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