Enrollment projected to decline to 2,000 in the next decade
Over the course of the next few years, students may witness significant, but not drastic changes to the school population. The school enrollment rate is projected to drop by about 50 students to a total of 2475 students. In the near future, the administration expects this number to continue decreasing rapidly to 2000.
“I don’t think we would ever see a significant impact because even the projections five years from now are only down about a hundred students, and this is without any district-transfer students being accounted for,” said Joshua Eby, principal.
Eby attributes this decrease to a lower birth rate and “an aging population”. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the local population under age five has decreased from 6.7% in 2000 to 5.2% in 2010, reflecting fewer students at elementary schools, and eventually, at high schools.
“People in suburban communities all across the United States are having fewer children, and those that are having children are having them later in their lives,” agreed Betsy Connolly, school board president. “Those two factors are everywhere, not just in California, and certainly not just Conejo Valley.”
Even though Amgen has recently downsized and let go of many employees, the loss of students from this event has been balanced by an influx of Amgen employees from other closed sites, including the company’s Seattle complex, which was recently purchased by Amazon. Interdistrict transfers from the Camarillo area have also been slowly dropping, but this has been a long term trend; in fact, the school has already approved 51 transfers for next year.
“We are seeing more people that need to ask for a reconsideration or an appeal,” Eby said of the transfers. He continued, “but over the last couple of years, in the end, everyone gets in who wants to get in.”
However, some Camarillo students still did not get the opportunity to transfer. Since her father is a teacher at Camarillo High, Helena McCabe, junior, was one of these students whose appeals were denied. She wanted to transfer because she desired the structure and opportunities offered by this school.
“I preferred the block schedule, and I also wanted to be in the same school as my middle school friends,” McCabe said. “I had heard that Newbury Park had a really good educational standing.”
As a junior, McCabe feels that it is too late to transfer. Nevertheless, she still wishes that the district would have decided differently. “I think I definitely would have enjoyed high school more (if I transferred),” McCabe said, “because I like having a lot of time in class to learn materials. And I would have been with my friends.”
The dropping enrollment may cause a similar drop in the school’s budget, but according to Eby, this will not lead to mass teacher layoffs because many are retiring.
“I think (this change) is positive,” said Eby. “We don’t want to get too big because then, we lose that personal touch as a school. I don’t see enrollment figures that grave to be overly concerned about.”
