Enrollment Drops At Bedford Road School

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. – Opening-day enrollment at Bedford Road School in Pleasantville is down for this school year, a factor that the district anticipated with a cost-saving reduction of staff.

“We graduated one of our biggest classes last June, which was our fourth-grade class,” said Bedford Road School Principal Peggy Galotti.

Over the past four years, the number of students entering Bedford Road School has been on a steady decline. Last year’s fourth-grade class had 137 students, and this year’s is right in line with 139 students. However, significantly fewer students are in the lower grades. The new kindergarten class this year has only 105 students. In April, the Board of Education unanimously voted to eliminate a fourth-grade teacher because of the anticipated reduction in students, a move that saved the district just over $200,000.

Galotti said an outside factor could be playing a role in the decrease of kindergarten enrollment.

“What’s interesting is that there are currently 13 children in Pleasantville who are age-eligible to enter kindergarten,” Galotti said. “And for whatever various reasons, their parents chose to hold them out.”

As the students move up the pipeline, enrollment at Pleasantville Middle School and High School is in line with previous years. Middle School Principal Vivian Ossowski pointed out an interesting dynamic of the current middle school students. Of the 581 students at the middle school, there are 336 boys to only 245 girls.

This year, Pleasantville Middle School is also set to send its biggest class on to the high school, as the eighth-grade class this year is the biggest in the school, with 160 students. The smallest class is the fifth grade, which has 137 students.

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