Wakeland Elementary School sees dip in choice applications as proposal to merge school with Johnson emerges

BRADENTON -- The number of incoming kindergarten students who want to attend Frances Wakeland Elementary School, the district's only International Baccalaureate elementary school, dropped this year.

Despite a strategic marketing campaign to bring in more students, Principal Mario Mendoza said confusion around the future of the school probably attributed to this year's low numbers. To help balance district enrollment, and move students out of the Wakeland Elementary -- which needs a lot of foundation work -- the district is proposing to up and relocate Wakeland to Louise R. Johnson Middle School for the 2017-18 year, bringing both the elementary and middle school IB programs to the same campus.

"For the general public, what they're actually hearing is Wakeland is closing. They're not hearing the Wakeland program is moving to Johnson," Mendoza said. "That's been the word on the street."

As a complete choice school, Wakeland has no attendance zone and only families who want to attend the school fill out choice applications. The district runs a choice period each year, but because of Wakeland's special status, children can fill out a choice application outside the normal choice period. If there's availability, they can move, Mendoza said.

Applications for the 2016-17 year are at a five-year low of 82 applications, Mendoza said. The school's most recent school grade was a

'B,' which Mendoza said is normally a pretty big factor for incoming families to look at. For the 2015-16 year, in which the school's latest grade was a 'D,' 99 students applied. The three years prior to that, when Wakeland was ranked a 'B' or a 'C,' the school had more than 100 applications each year.

The district is still processing overall choice numbers from the elementary school period, which ran from March 7 through March 17, but Danny Lundeen, the supervisor of student assignment, said he hadn't noticed anything highly unusual with the number of choice applications this year. Families can mark up to three choices on their application, and those choices haven't been processed yet, which may mean Wakeland's numbers can continue to rise.

"You have to let it all play out," Lundeen said.

Lundeen pointed out Wakeland has had a slight downward trend in full-time equivalent student enrollment, as measured by the state in October and February that similarly corresponds with the slight downtick in choice applications.

Marketing Wakeland

To try to combat that, a special committee was set up to focus on marketing for the upcoming year, even before the district began discussing moving Wakeland students, Mendoza said. The committee, through the school advisory council, launched a marketing campaign at area pre-schools to try to get more families interested. The committee also marketed the school's program at the recent ArtSlam, held during the Farmer's Market in downtown Bradenton. Mendoza said without that type of campaign, the numbers could have been much worse.

It's the first time in five years the school won't have a wait list for entrance into kindergarten, Mendoza said. With 82 applicants, he is still able to have five kindergarten teachers and he won't need to cut one teacher because of low enrollment.

"We hit the mark to not lose that teacher," he said. "But we're not full, we could still add more kids."

The eventual closing of Wakeland Elementary is one in a series of recommendations Superintendent Diana Greene has made to the school board to help balance enrollment across the entire district. The most immediate proposal -- which goes before the school board on April 12 for formal action -- is moving children out of Orange Ridge-Bullock Elementary and redistricting them to surrounding schools, with the bulk of students going to attend G.D. Rogers Garden Elementary School. If approved on April 12, that change will happen for the start of the 2016-17 year.

Meeting with parents

Moving the Wakeland program onto the Johnson campus is slated to happen for the 2017-18 year, but that proposal will also need to be signed off before the board at some point. Concerned Wakeland parents have already held a meeting with Greene to discuss the pros and cons of that move, with some arguing a cohesive K-8 IB program would strengthen the school and others expressing concern for combining students in that age range on one campus.

For the first few years, Greene proposed the schools operate separately under one roof, but eventually Greene proposed combining the school into one K-8 program.

It was important, Greene and Mendoza have said, for parents to keep in mind that the building and the location are not the basis of the school.

"We're a great program and we're just moving locations," Mendoza said. "The teachers are all moving. The curriculum is all moving. Our families are moving. It's the people that make the difference, we're just going to be on a different campus."

For information on the school, call the front office at 941-741-3358, ext. 2000.

Meghin Delaney, education reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7081. Follow her on Twitter @MeghinDelaney.

This story was originally published April 3, 2016 at 11:29 PM with the headline "Wakeland Elementary School sees dip in choice applications as proposal to merge school with Johnson emerges ."