All the data might not be back yet, but the preliminary results of Count Day on Feb. 8 shows the district’s student population fell from the previous count in September.
According to data from Kathy Absher, who oversees the district enrollment for Student Services, the district is unofficially down 14.49 students from the September count between Oxford Middle School and the five elementary schools and up 30.4 students from the Feb 9, 2011 count.
Absher said unofficial count day data was still pending from Oxford High School and Oxford Virtual Academy due to seat-time waivers.
‘It’s gotten real complicated this year . . .with the virtual stuff,? Absher admitted.
‘A lot of the high school students take on-line classes as well, whether they are sitting in the high school or . . . part of their day they are doing a virtual class,? she explained. ‘So, those students actually have to be calculated as well this time.?
‘We don’t look at them sitting someplace where we can physically count them,? Absher continued.
‘We look at how many times they logged into that class, how many contacts they had with the teacher.?
She said the other schools were pretty simple.
Absher explained count day was more than just taking pupil count on Wednesday, Feb. 8. It was a whole month-long process.
‘It starts on the eighth and runs through March 9,? she said. ‘Once March 9 happens, then we know who we can count because they have done their ten log-ins or who we can’t. There is this misconception that it is one day, but it is really a 30 day period.?
She also noted students who were absent on Feb. 8 have up to 30 days to return in order to get counted.
Once that is complete, the numbers are sent out to be audited.