Point of Discovery charter school may be key in Stevens Point district enrollment success next year
Alan HovorkaEditor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated the total enrollment in the Stevens Point Area Public School District in the 2020-21 school year. This story has been updated to reflect the correct enrollment figure of 6,910 students.
STEVENS POINT - A 10% increase in enrollment at Stevens Point's public charter school will not only allow the program to offer 11th grade but also gives district leaders hope the school can bring back families that left because of the pandemic.
Point of Discovery's good news comes one year after the Stevens Point School Board approved a pilot program allowing the charter school to expand into 10th grade. The board, still wrangling with the ongoing pandemic, approved continuing the high school expansion program last month and will allow the school to add 11th grade next year conditioned on the school meeting enrollment goals.
The school would need to attract 40 more students next year to meet those goals. Stevens Point leaders feel optimistic about the role the charter school could play in convincing parents who left the district this year to come back by offering them choices in education, district spokeswoman Sarah O'Donnell said. The board's vote in January to add 11th grade also came from a desire to maintain the status quo as district leaders continue to focus on the pandemic.
The charter school, however, still faces a complicated, undetermined future because of declining enrollment trends in previous years. Parents and school leaders wanted students to continue with the school's unique learning model through high school, asking the board in November 2019 to transform the alternative middle school into the district's third high school.
The charter school is built around the idea of "expeditionary learning," an alternative to a homework-driven curriculum that focuses on a semester-long project on a central topic, such as civil rights, that connects multiple disciplines — say reading, math and social studies.
The school board agreed to try expanding the school in February 2020, adding 10th grade to the sixth- to ninth-grade middle school. Board members last year challenged the Point of Discovery school, which occupies the former Jackson Elementary School, to come up with a marketing plan and increase enrollment from 86 to 120 students in the 2020-21 school year.
The board's message to the charter school: Prove to us a market exists in central Wisconsin for this kind of high school.
Connie Neegard, director of secondary education for Stevens Point schools, said the district had a marketing plan soon thereafter but then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down a key part of that concept: in-person visits.
"Our biggest marketing plan was come and see for yourself," Neegard said. "We had to put a hold on that marketing plan. It’s just not appropriate to recruit kids at a time like that."
The priority of educators in the district became figuring out how to hold classes in a pandemic.
RELATED:Stevens Point School Board OKs Point of Discovery expansion into high school as a pilot program
Despite the pandemic, the school increased from 86 students to about 100, Principal Dan Lathrop said.
Earlier this month, the board excused the charter school for missing the 120-student enrollment goal. Public schools across the state reported an average 3% decrease in student headcount, according to Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction data. Stevens Point Public Schools reported a similar drop of about 3.4%, decreasing from 7,150 students to 6,910. Neegard said families opted to homeschool their children or open enroll out of the district because they didn't agree with reopening plans.
The number of students in a school or district matters financially: Schools in Wisconsin receive state funding based on their enrollment. Fewer students in a district mean fewer dollars.
Point of Discovery's enrollment goal is now 140 students because the board granted the 11th-grade expansion. Neegard said she feels comfortable the school can meet the challenge with its updated marketing plan and with the district discovering that families want choice in how their children learn.
"We knew we were losing kids to other districts and that parents are looking for alternative learning environments," Neegard said. "We need to keep kids in our community and to give them some options in their learning. This spring is going to be critical."
Open enrollment typically begins in the middle of February and early March, although some class registration has already begun, O'Donnell said. Point of Discovery typically consists of more students from outside the district that choose to open enroll out of their home districts, O'Donnell said.
Neegard said she hopes the charter school could be a pathway to bring back families who left the district this fall.
The board's unanimous vote in January also means district leaders could take a closer look at the charter school's future once the pandemic subsides, maybe even later this fall.
Lathrop attributed the enrollment success this year to he and his staff speaking one-on-one with families throughout the summer as part of the recruitment drive as well as relying on word of mouth through parents of Point of Discovery students.
The good news in enrollment also stemmed from the school retaining most of its students and welcoming a smaller than normal sixth-grade class, he said . Lathrop said the school has since retooled its marketing plan for next year, focusing on social media outreach, virtual meetings and individualized tours of the school instead of bringing people in en masse.
Contact reporter Alan Hovorka at 715-345-2252 or ahovorka@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ajhovorka.