Enrollment Down in Commack Schools

Enrollment has dropped in the Commack Union Free School District, according to a state report released Thursday.

According to the The New York State School Report Card for 2009-2010, enrollment in the K-12 District slid to 7,671 in 2010, compared to 7,830 students in the 2008-2009 school year and 7,754 in the 2007-2008 school year.

Assistant Superintendent David Weiss said the drop is not specific to the District. "There is a decline in school-age children in Commack. It's part of a bigger Island-wide trend." he said.

Despite a lower enrollment rate, class sizes have increased slightly. In 2009-2010, the average class size was 25 students, up from 23 the previous year.

This may be due to an increased rate in turnover of teachers with fewer than five years of experience, which jumped to 31% in 2009-2010, up from 16% a year earlier.  Teachers with more than five years experience saw a slighter increase, with 13 percent in 2009-2010 compared to 10 percent in 2008-2009.

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As for district demographics, there has been little shift in school ethnicity. In 2009-2010, 88 percent of the student body was white, 3 percent was Hispanic, 1 percent black and 7 percent Asian, a ratio that's held for three years.

Ninety students identified as multicultural, which is up from 34 students in 2009-2009 and 0 students in 2007-2008.

The troubled economy showed little impact on the percentage of students getting free or reduced price lunch. While the percentage of students getting free lunches remained steady at 2 percent—as it has for the past three years—the number of students increased to 173 students in 2009-2010, compared to 158 students the year before. The percentage of students getting discounted lunch slid from 2 percent in 2008-2009 to 1 percent in 2009-2010.

Stay tuned to Commack Patch throughout the next week as we continue to break down these numbers. We've also attached the full reports so parents can see the data for themselves.