Student Enrollment Numbers in Pleasanton Remain Steady

Students filled up Pleasanton schools last week, and while they may be facing the stress of studying and homework again, they can strike one thing off their list of concern--crammed hallways.

Enrollment is steady at the school district and the numbers are comparable to what was anticipated, district officials said.

District-wide, the number of enrolled students totaled 14,857 as of Sept. 1. This means an overall increase of 53 students from last year's total of 14,804 students.

Because the number of actual students was close to what was expected, only minor changes were necessary, Senior Director of Pupil Services Kevin Johnson said. The changes included the addition of three classes at the elementary level.

"What is fortunate of our system is that enrollment is pretty steady, meaning not having enormous growth or decline," said Johnson, who added that overall enrollment has hovered around 14,800 for the past few years.

The number of enrolled elementary students total 6,307, resulting in an increase of 133 students.

Middle school enrollment saw a decrease of 63 students with a total of 3,465 students, and high school comes in at 5,102 students, causing the slightest increase of 17 students.

The stability of numbers was also reflected in the number of teachers and staff at the school district, said Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Bill Faraghan. Faraghan said the last time the district saw a large drop in staffing was between the 2009-10 and 2008-09 school years.

As of Aug. 30, Pleasanton schools have 308 people teaching in the elementary level, 161 teachers in the middle school level and 239 teachers in the high school level. An additional 44 teachers are charged with the district's special education classrooms.

This makes a total of 752 K-12 teaching employees for the current school year, which totals 52 less people than the 804 teachers that were employed with the district in 2008-09.

Faraghan said the numbers of teachers and students are very similar to last year and while some people were laid off last year, the number of employees remains steady.

Johnson said the three classes were added before the school year began and that it was necessary because the district was "very conservative" with its staffing. He added the district will continue to watch enrollment numbers in order to staff accordingly.