The Philomath School District is closing the door on new interdistrict transfers at the high school’s freshman and sophomore levels after an unexpected wave of enrollment left administrators scrambling to verify where the new students are actually coming from.
Superintendent Susan Halliday told the Philomath School Board that on-site registration wrapped up this week with most families registering Wednesday and the final push finishing Thursday at Philomath High School for freshmen and sophomores.
“We closed ninth grade and we closed 10th grade,” Halliday said Thursday evening. “(Philomath High Principal) Mark Henderson called me today and he said, we’re stuffed.’ And I said, ‘Where are the students coming from?’ — because we’re hoping that they’re not interdistrict transfers that somebody just enrolled without checking to make sure that they were our students.”
Halliday said the district planned to do spot checks this week to confirm new students are properly verified.
“If we have no slots at a particular level for interdistrict transfers, and they’re coming into a school and automatically being enrolled without checking — I mean, we could still take up to that limit that we had, but we want to make sure are they truly Philomath students, or are they not?” Halliday said. “So we want to see who are you, where are you coming from, and see if we can find a pattern, because there’s just no rhyme or reason.”
Halliday also raised concerns that some families may be using a Philomath address simply to avoid going through the formal interdistrict transfer process — a practice she said isn’t new.
“That was old school — I remember that from when I was in school,” she said. “People would get a mailbox in a secondary place and do it.”
The enrollment picture isn’t uniform across the district. Halliday said Clemens Primary School principal Abby Moser reported Thursday just 62 total kindergartners enrolled, a low number that’s raising questions about staffing.
With four kindergarten classrooms currently planned, Halliday said she’s hesitant to immediately cut back to three sections.
“I’m worried there are going to be those people that believe in the post-Labor-Day start and aren’t even thinking about an early start, and so they’re not registering their students,” Halliday said.
She said the district won’t make staffing decisions hastily.
“We’re not going to automatically say somebody’s out of a job at the 11th hour, but we can take a look at how to best utilize the personnel that we need,” Halliday said. “We’re just going to keep watching it and to see, but also want to do some spot checks.”
Halliday told the board the district is watching enrollment through the rest of the week and into next Monday before making any final staffing determinations.
Board member Ryan Cheeke asked what would happen if the district needed to consolidate a grade level, such as moving from four kindergarten teachers to three, when the fourth teacher already has a signed contract.
“That’s what we would potentially look to do is reallocate,” Halliday said, noting the district can’t argue it lacks enough students for a teacher under contract. If staffing levels forced the issue, she said, the district would have to go through a formal reduction-in-force process — though she added the district has other areas where it needs additional support.
Board chair Tom Klipfel suggested a kindergarten teacher facing reallocation might shift to another grade level. Halliday said administrators have also discussed team-teaching arrangements that would place two teachers in front of a larger or more challenging group of students while still maintaining three kindergarten sections, though she cautioned those ideas remain preliminary.
Halliday said the district plans to hold off on any staffing changes over the weekend and revisit the numbers afterward. She expects a clearer picture by the board’s September meeting, once neighboring districts begin submitting records requests for students who are withdrawing from Philomath schools.
“That’s when we will know those students who are leaving,” Halliday said, adding that individual schools are already following up directly with families who registered but haven’t yet shown up for classes.
