Port Townsend School Board members discussed the most recent enrollment update during their last board meeting.

It was a mixed bag.

In the report, the number of students enrolled for Salish Coast Elementary and Blue Heron Middle schools went up slightly.

However, the enrollment for Port Townsend High School and OCEAN dropped.

For kindergarten through grade 12, the numbers show a decrease of 153 students. At the beginning of the year, the school budgeted for 1,112 full-time equivalent (FTE) students. Since the start of the school year, the district has seen an average of only 958 FTE students actually enrolled, according to the May 2021 enrollment report. 

“Looking at where people went, it’s kind of scattered,” said Amy Khile, Director of Finance and Business Operations.

According to Khile, a majority either moved out of state or moved within state. Other students opted for home school or private school, with one student dropping due to truancy.

“All over the board” is how Khile described the numbers of students in district classrooms.

“It always goes down this time of year,” added School Board Chair Nathanael O’Hara.

“It actually doesn’t look super steep,” he added, saying the numbers dipped more in February and March than they did in May.