Woburn Kindergarten Enrollment Dropped Over 10% Last Year

WOBURN, MA — Woburn public school enrollment dropped significantly from the 2019-2020 school year to the 2020-2021 year, with the biggest drops coming in the youngest grades.

The trend in the city reflects the pattern across much of the country, according to enrollment data collected by researchers at Stanford University.

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. In Massachusetts, it declined nearly 12 percent.

In Woburn, it fell even further: the district went from 330 kindergarten students in 2019-2020 to 285 in the following year, a 13.6 percent fall. Woburn also reported a significant decline in first grade enrollment and an even larger drop-off for pre-kindergarten, where enrollment fell by a third.

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.

Some grades reported increases, but overall, district enrollment went from 4,451 students to 4,279 last year, a 3.86 percent decline.

Superintendent Matthew Crowley did not respond to questions from Patch for this story. Enrollment for the 2021-2022 school year is reported in October.

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.