CAMAS — The Washougal School District lost about 250 students — roughly 7 percent of its student body — during the course of the 2020-21 school year, when COVID-19 regulations forced a blend of remote and limited in-person learning, but school officials are optimistic the district will be able to attract a portion of those students back this fall.
The district is budgeting for 2,992 students for the 2021-22 school year, a figure that “bounces back to about what it was prior to the pandemic starting,” according to Kris Grindy, the district’s financial manager.
The district concluded the 2020-21 school year with 2,778 students, a decrease of about 250 from the 2019-20 school year.
“We hear about the great work that our leadership is doing at the building level and the great programs to reattract students back to our schools, so hopefully we’ll see this picture change for the 2021-22 school year,” Grindy said during a June 22 Washougal School Board meeting. “Hopefully, our enrollment supersedes our expectations next year and we’ll have more flexibility within our budget.”