Tewksbury Enrollment Dropped Almost 5 Percent Last Year

TEWKSBURY, MA — Tewksbury public school enrollment dropped significantly from the 2019-2020 school year to the 2020-2021 year, with the biggest drop coming among prekindergarten students.

The trend in Tewksbury reflects the pattern across much of the country, according to enrollment data collected by researchers at Stanford University. But Tewksbury differs in one significant way: it had more kindergarten students this year than last.

Still, enrollment fell significantly among the youngest students, due in large part to a precipitous decline in pre-K enrollment.

With the district's schools operating under a hybrid learning model for much of the school year, it appears many parents of young students chose not to send their children to local public schools — opting instead for private school, homeschooling or other options.

Nationwide, kindergarten enrollment dropped nearly 10 percent from fall 2019 to fall 2020, the New York Times reported. Across Massachusetts, it dropped almost 12 percent.

Statewide and in Tewksbury, prekindergarten enrollment was hit hardest, falling over 30 percent.

"All districts saw a decline in Pre-K numbers last year because of the pandemic, and don't forget, public schools are not the only option for Pre-K," Tewksbury Superintendent Chris Malone noted.

Did you take your children out of public school, or choose not to enroll them, last year? Patch would love to hear from you. Contact Christopher Huffaker at chris.huffaker@patch.com.

Overall, Tewksbury enrollment fell from 3,348 students in the 2019-2020 school year to 3,182 in 2020-2021, a 4.96 percent decline.

Exact numbers for the 2021-2022 school year are not available, but Malone said enrollment has at least partially recovered.

"This school year is certainly more like we have seen prior to last year," Malone said. "Tewksbury has always managed sporadic grade level 'blips' in enrollment (both larger and smaller) particularly at the k-4 range."

"We do believe the opening of the new district-wide grades 2-4 school will even go further in helping to manage this long term," the superintendent noted.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com. Disclosure: The author's sister is part of the Stanford team that collected the data for this story.