Alexandria Schools: Enrollment Increases Could Stabilize

Alexandria schools officials expect a drop in students living in garden-style apartments in coming decades due to the large-scale demolition of apartments as part of Beauregard Street redevelopment.

“We do not expect their replacement units to generate nearly as many students,” said Pat Mann, a urban planner with the city who also with works with the school district.

Mann, who spoke to the Seminary Hill Association on Thursday, told Patch the current garden apartments will be replaced with mid-rise residential units.

“Our expectation is the enrollment in those areas will fall over time as those apartments are demolished, more mid-rise apartments replacing them,” he said. “So we would expect the enrollment from the Beauregard area would drop with that change.”

Mann, sharing information on Alexandria City Public Schools enrollment trends, said after a dip from 2000 to 2007, enrollment has increased by almost 25 percent. Most of the growth has come from elementary schools.

Mann said school officials don’t yet know whether that enrollment increase will continue into the next school year until officials see September data.

The city’s total population increased up about 10 percent between 2000 and 2010, Mann said. That population, especially baby boomers, will continue to age, eventually leading to fewer children per city resident. Also, single-person households how make up 43 percent of households in the city, meaning fewer school-age children.

More than half of Alexandria’s housing stock has four rooms or less, Mann said. “Big families are not going to tend to live here.” he said.

However, births in the city and kindergarten enrollment are increasing, and more of the children born in the city are expected to attend kindergarten in the city than in prior years. More students are continuing on to the next grade since 2007, an increase seen at all levels of instruction, due to fewer families leaving the city, Mann said.

The school district has plans in the coming fiscal year to add capacity at elementary schools including James K. Polk, Patrick Henry, Charles Barrett, George Mason, Matthew Maury and Douglas MacArthur.

A planning group, the Long-Range Educational Facilities Plan, is currently tasked with accounting for future school enrollment changes.  

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