LA schools see big drop in kindergartners

Howard Blume, Paloma Esquivel and Andrew J. Campa

LOS ANGELES — Kindergarten enrollment is down sharply in Los Angeles public schools and elsewhere in California, signaling that many parents of the state’s youngest students face heavy burdens with online learning and might be opting out of traditional public schools or moving out of L.A. amid the coronavirus crisis.

The drop of 6,000 kindergarten students in the nation’s second-largest school district represents a 14% decline since last year. When combined with anecdotal reports of inconsistent kindergarten attendance in live online classes, some virtual classrooms appear to be at about 50% to 75% capacity.

Since campuses shut in mid-march, experts have expressed particular concern about 4-, 5- and 6-year-old students, who are missing out on critical socialization skills with other children, might be struggling to form important bonds with teachers, and lack the developmental stamina to stay engaged for extended periods of computer learning.

Educators worry that the most disadvantaged children will be left farther behind.

“If these families are disproportionately losing access to kindergarten, then it is likely that there will be downstream impacts on their learning when they have to catch up to children who both began school with greater advantages and had that opportunity for formal learning in kindergarten,” said Anna Markowitz, an assistant professor of education at UCLA.

It’s too early for a precise picture of why kindergarten enrollment has dropped so dramatically. But L.A. schools Superintendent Austin Beutner said there’s a correlation the district between enrollment decline and communities already hard hit by coronavirus illness and economic hardship. The district’s student population is 80% Latino, with nearly the same percentage of children in need of free or reduced-price meals.

“The biggest drops in kindergarten enrollment are generally in neighborhoods with the lowest household incomes,” Beutner said during a pre-recorded Monday online briefing. “We suspect some of this is because families may lack the ability to provide full-time support at home for online learning, which is necessary for very young learners.”

Parents’ struggles can intense.

Isabel Lopez, the mother to a toddler, a first-grader, a fifth-grader and an eighth-grader, spends the entire school day guiding children through classes from her home in downtown L.A.

First-grader Rosie sometimes breaks down in tears. She gets frustrated when she can’t tell whether her teacher sees when she raises her hand to answer a question.

Alyssa Mcgregor, the mother of seven children, six of whom are in school, said it has been especially challenging keeping her twin girls, in transitional kindergarten, focused. Transitional kindergarten serves 4-year-olds who turn 5 during the fall semester.

Mcgregor, who lives in South LA, said the girls need help using their tablets, and she often finds them wandering around, hoping to see what their siblings are doing.

“I have to constantly become tell them: ‘Stay out of your sisters’ class,’”said Mcgregor, who also has to manage a 5-month-old. “If they were in the classroom setting, I think it would be a lot different.”

Under state law, parents do not have to enroll their children in kindergarten. Starting in first grade, however, schooling is mandatory, although parents are allowed to home-school their children.

Katie Pace, a parent leader at Gardner Elementary in Hollywood, said early tallies put attendance down 10% to 15% despite a well-regarded principal and a stable, veteran staff.

“Everyone just left the city, mostly” for economic reasons, Pace said of the departures she knew about. Other parents seem to be opting out. One said he moved his daughter, who is starting first grade, from a district school to a private school in the expectation that it would reopen sooner. The parent asked that his name not be used out of respect for his daughter’s privacy.

A principal in southwestern L.A. said her enrollment drop is related to serving a low-income minority community slammed by COVID-19.

“It doesn't surprise me that parents are unwilling to take the risk of putting a 5-year-old on a campus and also are not comfortable with a 5-year-old sitting in front of a computer for a half or a full day,” said the principal, who requested anonymity because she was not authorized to speak.

“Honestly, I probably wouldn’t enroll my children in kindergarten right now,” she said. “Or, if I had to work, I would look at private options.”

She added that the district is treating kindergartners too much like 12thgraders in terms of time spent online.