Report: 70 local students school elsewhere

Dozens of local students attend schools out of the Grand Coulee Dam School District, according to numbers compiled for the school board at their request.

Director Alex Tufts had asked earlier this year that the district develop an exit interview as a matter of course to track reasons for students choosing to leave.

The district has averaged 645 students across all grades this year, but is currently down by 22 students from the beginning of the school year.

Director Rich Black asked at the March 24 meeting what reasons are for the migration.

“Some is discipline, some folks are upset,” answered Superintendent Rod Broadnax. “Just kind of random things that go on throughout the school year, and some were caught up in the choice transfer process, that turned around and went back to Nespelem.”

The Nespelem District, which for decades has served students through eighth grade, has expanded its offering to add high school classes added an Alternative Learning Environment program and is adding a career and technical education (CTE) offerings.

Twenty of the students transferred this year went to Nespelem — 11 to the elementary side and nine to the high school, according to a chart included in Broadnax’s report.

It also shows 12 local students at Almira, 2 in Coulee City, 2 in Mansfield, 12 in Wilbur, 19 taking their schooling online, and three at Okanogan Alternative School.

Officials figure those students take about $10,000 in state funding with them when they leave, meaning that’s a $700,000 financial factor to consider.