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The Ravenswood City School District has experienced staggering student enrollment decline in the last two decades, a new district report shows.
More than half (55%) of the exodus has been attributed to changing demographics in East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park, according to the Jan. 26 staff report. The rest can be attributed to families choosing to send their students to other districts and other schools (including newly opened charter schools).
“We’re not serving 100% of our community, we think there’s a lot of kids going to other programs,” said Chief Business Officer Will Eger during a Jan. 26 school board meeting. “If all those kids came to our programs we’d have to open a lot more seats.”
Superintendent Gina Sudaria said one of the district’s priorities is recruiting children to attend district schools.
In 2021, about 37% of students who live in district boundaries were enrolled in district schools and 33% were enrolled in charter schools. Back in 2000, 77% were enrolled in district schools and only 7% attended charter schools. Students also transfer out of the district through the Tinsley Voluntary Transfer Program.
In 1997 the East Palo Alto Charter School opened, followed in 2017 by KIPP Valiant Community Prep and The Primary School.
The highest peak of enrollment in the district was in 1998, with about 5,000 students enrolled, according to the district. The district enrolled 1,530 students during the 2022-23 school year.
“This is not the same Ravenswood that was 10 years ago,” said Board President Jenny Varghese Bloom. “That’s one thing we as a district need to continue to talk about. … How do we bring students back? … It is an amazing school with amazing teachers and with amazing staff.”
Trustee Mele Latu said wants to form a board subcommittee formed solely to focus on enrollment.
Youth population in the region
Neighboring school districts have also seen (or expect to see) population declines, but not as severe as Ravenswood’s dip.
The Menlo Park City School District student body is expect to shrink to around 2,500 students in 2027, down 7.4% from 2,700 today, according to a December report.
The number of children under 5 years old living in the Ravenswood district suggests that there will likely be further enrollment declines. These potential declines could be offset by an increasing number of students enrolled in the district, according to staff.
Board members did wonder how new housing projects in the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park could impact enrollment. Eger noted that it’s difficult to predict how many families will move into those units and attend district schools.
Watch a video of the Jan. 26 meeting here:
Just a reminder, Belle Haven is actually the northern most part of Menlo Park. The Almanac had in these past few years stopped using that EPA word association that doesn’t match geography and this is now the second article I’ve seen going back to that misnomer. It is not an accurate description, but one that rose from the racial isolation imposed on these communities by past redlining practices. It would be nice to see my local paper not using those inaccurate names any longer. It would be even better if that change could be institutionalized enough to not need a public comment to do better. Thank you. You can refer to numerous city documents referring to this neighborhood in more accurate terms if you’re looking for some more accurate ideas.
You state your education programs are strong. Why are your test scores so low?
Dawn1234 why can’t you just spell out that “misnomer “ you claim, so we know what you are referring to more specifically.
Test scores DO tell the tale of the teaching facility. Why wouldn’t a parent want to give their child a positive start on their educational experiences?? Even it it costs more. Can’t go backwards once you destroy or damage a childs’ experience in a school system. Add
If there is more time spent on discipline or 2nd language factors, there is less learning by the class collectively.
My son is in the Tinsley Program in the Las Lomitas School District. When we were looking at schools 8 years ago, it was very clear that the Ravenswood School District had no intention of catering to middle class, college educated parents and went out of their way to repel them from the school district. There were no open houses, no effort to attract the many middle-class residents of EPA and BH to the schools – instead we saw news articles on the high rate of “homeless” kids and articles on how the district is installing washers and dryers because the kids come to school in dirty clothes. Other districts have at least one high performing magnet School, Ravenswood Schools were all 1/10 while Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Las Lomitas are 9/10 or 10/10 on academic rankings. The people who I have spoken to about RCSD who are most adamant about not sending their kids to school in district are they themselves graduates of the RCSD system – and do not want their kids to go through what they experienced.
I’ve been fairly supportive of the changes brought by Gina Sudaria and her team, but the district needs to make a special effort to reverse this trend and increase enrollment. This starts with improving test scores and providing parents a solid reason to trust the district with our kids education. It is a very tough task to turn around a failing school district, and I do not know if it can be done. Certainly, in the 14 years I have lived in EPA I have seen little or no improvement in the schools, despite increased taxes and bond measure for new facilities. Maybe some in EPA do not want good schools – after all, good schools would lead to gentrification and opposing demographic changes is a core part of EPA’s political identity.
Dawn1234,
Your credibility would be enhanced by using your real name. Are you on the MP City Council?
Fascinating graph above.
Hi Dawn1234,
The language “eastern Menlo Park” pulls directly from a district staff report: “Compared to 2000, there are fewer children living in East Palo Alto and eastern Menlo Park.”
Full staff report here:
https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/meetings/TempFolder/Meetings/Enrollment%20Analysis%20-%20Story_418919fiabjqkwrl2m15t10ho0du1r.pdf
Thanks, Angela. I’ll direct my public comment in the right spot. Appreciate the clarification. I give credit to Rose Bickerstaff for bringing it my awareness years ago. I’ve appreciated how the city has shifted its descriptions to be more accurate because it had in the past (with capitalization and all) led some to believe Belle Haven was a different city.
Banes –
east(ern)
You don’t see a decline of this magnitude without a serious and systematic problem. Parents might shop at a local grocery to help their community but they will draw the line at their children’s future. You don’t get a second chance at that. I can’t imagine any parent sending their kids to the schools Mark describes above, and I certainly would not. RCSD won’t be seeing an increase in enrollment until the community turns over and more middle class parents start to move in. It’s happening now, but probably not fast enough to save the district.
Consolidation of the Menlo Park City School District and the Ravenwood City School District makes a lot of sense. Let’s give all a chance in a good educational foundation. The Tinsley Project was a start, but, I’m sure they may have a feeling of “ being an outsider”, since they must travel to the MPCSD facilities.
Parents have responded to the abysmally poor academic achievement numbers by opting out, either through the Tinsley program or through private and charter schools. Who can blame them? They only get one opportunity to give their children a quality education and they will not entrust that to RCSD. Stu is correct, the district should merge with Menlo Park. RCSD for years has been a “state funded” district, but according to their 2020-2021 audit report will likely convert to a locally funded model. The differences in funding models was one objection to merging the districts.
The RCSD has significant debt due to a recent bond issue and much deferred maintenance and is looking to sell or liquidate real estate assets to make up for an underfunded pension obligation. However, the efficiencies gained through merger would likely offset the negative financial position and deliver a superior product to the community.