By Linda Conner Lambeck

Assistant Superintendent John Bayers - Photo Linda Conner Lambeck
Assistant Superintendent John Bayers – Photo Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT – The energy was positive for the start of the new school year, but enrollment is less than expected, the school board was told on Thursday.

Meeting at Staples High School, the school board learned there are 33 fewer students districtwide than projected for the 2025-26 school year.

As of Sept. 5, the Kindergarten through 12th Grade enrollment stood at 5,197, not the 5,230 demographers predicted there would be.

Assistant Superintendent John Bayers told the board the numbers will likely change before the official headcount on Oct. 1 and reported to the state. Last October 1, the district’s official enrollment stood at 5,187.

The headcount doesn’t include preschoolers or students placed out of district.

The difference is almost exclusively at the elementary schools. There were 57 fewer students than projected across five schools, including 36 fewer students at Greens Farms Elementary. That led to one fewer section of kindergarten at the school this year. 

Bayers said kindergarten at Greens Farm was way lower than expected.

“Kindergarten always provides the greatest uncertainty,” Bayers said.

Coleytown Elementary had 6 fewer students than projected, Kings Highway and Saugatuck had 7 fewer students each and Long Lots had one fewer student than projected.

Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice said the redistricting that shifted 46 students from Long Lots to Saugatuck helped ease overcrowding at Long Lots and allowed for more effective use of available space at Saugatuck.

“It worked out well,” Bayers said.

With the shift, four of the five elementary schools have similar enrollments of between 459 and 489. Long Lots is the outlier with 546 students.

At the middle school level, Bedford had 10 more students than projected and stands at 721 while Coleytown Middle School had four fewer students than projected and stands at 475.

Staples High School, meanwhile, had 18 more students than projected and stands at 1,630.

Scarice said with many school districts experiencing enrollment dips he sees Westport numbers as stabilizing after strong increases over the past few years.

Demographers are already working on projections for 2026-27 Bayers said.

Staffing

The district hired nearly 80 individuals this summer including 27 certified staff members. They also saw 14 existing staff members change jobs. One, Kim Kassey, is the new Coordinator for Psychological Services. She previously was a school psychologist at Coleytown Elementary School.

Although he said he was pleased with this summer’s hiring process, Bayers said the pool of applicants for positions continues to shrink. Fewer people are going into education.

“We want to make sure we are hiring the best people,” said Bayers. The district also looks to strike a balance between new teachers fresh out of university programs and more veteran staff, most coming from neighboring districts.

Transportation

Scarice said overall school buses have been running smoothly with the start of the school year even though the fleet is running with two fewer buses.

“This is the best opening performance for transportation in my five years here,” Scarice said. Overall times are great but there are some isolated exceptions, Scarice said. There are a couple of difficult, long routes that are being addressed, he added.

Communication

As for communication, the district has a new tool called Parents Square to provide parents and students with school updates, alerts, PTA news, events and reminders. The platform was introduced when the district began prohibiting district employees from texting students.

The plan to ban cell phones at Staples, meanwhile, remains a work in progress. Student input is still being sought. The board is scheduled to take up the implementation of the Phone Free Plan at its October 9 board meeting.

Security

The board, in executive session, received its first comprehensive district security evaluation in a decade. It is expected that the evaluation will lead to an action plan. Scarice said he is confident in the level of security in the district but that this will take it to the next level.

Recent Westport Journal coverage of Westport schools

Linda Conner Lambeck

Linda Conner Lambeck covers education for Westport Journal. She was a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications. She has covered education throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties. She is a proud member of the Education Writers Association.

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