Student enrollment down slightly in Wareham Schools

This year, there are 2,067 students enrolled in Wareham Schools, reported Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Shaver-Hood at the March 17 School Committee meeting. 

She said the district is starting to see more students staying in-district. 

Committee member Joyce Bacchiocchi noted that the number of school-age children in the region is dropping. Currently, there are 2,608 school-age kids and teens in Wareham, down from 2,754 in 2019.

Here’s a summary of Shaver-Hood’s report:

The district has far more foster care and homeless students now than it did pre-pandemic. Currently, the district has 56 foster care students — down from last year’s 57 but staggeringly higher than the six students in the district in 2019.

There are 28 homeless students attending Wareham schools this year, up from 17 last year and just three the year before that.

Wareham students attending other schools

The number of students attending a different district through school choice is down 14 from 2019 — 233 students this year. 

The number of students attending Wareham from other districts is also down slightly — 63 students this year, which is 6 fewer than in 2019.

Over the last three years, the number of Wareham students attending vocational school has dropped by 25 from 249 in 2019 to 224 in the 2021-2022 school year. There has been a slight increase in students attending charter schools, up 4 from 2019’s total to 98 in 2021.

The number of students being homeschooled this year —73 — is up significantly from 2019’s total of 46 students but lower than last year’s total of 89.

Rounding out the out-of-district students are 29 attending Cape Cod Collaborative, nine attending in-state private schools and four attending out-of-state private schools.