AOS 98 reports stable enrollment
Over a decade of AOS 98 enrollment. From AOS 98 and Maine Department of Education. FRITZ FREUDENBERGER/Boothbay Register
Over a decade of AOS 98 enrollment. From AOS 98 and Maine Department of Education. FRITZ FREUDENBERGER/Boothbay Register
New Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98 figures, alongside state data, show steady enrollment in recent years. AOS 98 recently reported that, as of Oct. 1, 656 students are enrolled in the district, one more student than at the same time last year. According to data from Maine Department of Education, overall enrollment has remained relatively steady for around the past seven years.
State data shows a 105-student drop from the 2015-2016 school year to the 2018-2019 school year was the district's largest period of decline in the 10-year published record. The two school years also represent the highest and lowest enrollments represented in the data. However, since the 2018-2019 low point, an average of 666 students (669 median) enrolled in AOS 98. In the same period, average enrollment change from year to year shows a three-student surplus.
“Our enrollment really has stabilized,” said AOS 98 Superintendent Robert Kahler. He said the state data matches a 2022 population study done as part of the Community School District's major renovation project. He added that, since then, enrollment has exceeded the study’s projections.
A summary of the Oct. 1 enrollment snapshot is as follows:
Boothbay Region Elementary School has a total of 312 students from Pre-K through eighth grade. Overall, 169 are from Boothbay, 93 from Boothbay Harbor, 21 from Edgecomb, nine from Southport, and 20 from “other” locations. According to the district, unspecified locations could be superintendent agreements or tuition students.
Boothbay Region High School has 164 students from ninth through 12th grade. Overall, 71 are from Boothbay, 30 from Boothbay Harbor, 32 from Edgecomb, 13 from Southport, and 18 from unlisted towns.
Edgecomb Eddy School has 106 students from pre-K through sixth grade. Overall, 71 are from Edgecomb, two are from Boothbay, and 33 are from other towns.
Southport Central School has 21 students from pre-K through sixth grade. Overall, 17 are from Southport, two are from Boothbay Harbor, one is from Boothbay, and one is from an unlisted town.
Georgetown Central School has 53 students from pre-K through sixth grade, all from Georgetown.
Kahler said enrollment is reported as of Oct. 1 to align with state reporting and account for transfers and other enrollment fluctuations at the beginning of the school year.
