EDUCATION

This school lost 10% of its students to home schooling. Will they return?

Andrew Marra
Palm Beach Post
A sign outside Jupiter Farms Elementary welcomes back in-person students in September 2020.

Thousands of Palm Beach County parents withdrew their children from public schools last year, as fears about contagion, prolonged online learning and the use of masks drove families toward other educational options.

But nowhere did children leave at a higher rate than in Jupiter Farms, the unincorporated region west of Jupiter celebrated for its open spaces and rural feel.

When the school year began in August, more than 10% of students had unenrolled from Jupiter Farms Elementary, the only public school located in the region. Nearly all of them opted to be home-schooled.

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The school had the county’s highest rate of departing students, and by far the most students – 71 – who left for home schooling, an analysis of school district records shows.

Now the 570-student school is a front-line defense in the district’s efforts to coax families to return to their campuses in the fall, when classes will be completely in-person and the district says masks will not be required.

But while school administrators expect the return of many families simply waiting out the coronavirus pandemic, the calculus may prove more complicated in Jupiter Farms, where a strong home-schooling culture and growing government distrust could influence some residents’ decisions to stay home.

A home-schooling hub

School Board member Barbara McQuinn, whose district includes Jupiter Farms, said its residents have always had a strong investment in the elementary school, making the high number of departing students surprising.

“Jupiter Farms is such a strong community in terms of education,” she said. “The fact that (so many) left for home schooling, wow.”

But the area is also a longtime home-schooling hub, a trend bolstered by the area’s distance from private and charter school options.

“There’s always been a big home-schooling presence out there,” said Cheryl Trzasko, president of Palm Beach County Homeschoolers, a home-schooling support group. “Probably a lot of people, even if they had never home-schooled before, are (aware of others) out there in the community.”

Countywide, the majority of the estimated 5,500 students who unenrolled from the district’s schools left for private or charter schools. Just 38% chose home schooling.

But most schooling alternatives are long drives from Jupiter Farms, making home schooling an unusually attractive option.

Of the 76 students who unenrolled from Jupiter Farms Elementary, all but five left for home schooling, according to district records.

School with second highest number is west of Lantana

No other school of any size saw so many students opt for home schooling in such high numbers. The elementary school with the second-highest number, Manatee Elementary west of Lantana, had just 46.

Chelsea Lisowy, a Jupiter Farms resident, was already home-schooling her oldest son when the pandemic hit but had her younger two children at Jupiter Farms Elementary.

She was already planning to begin home-schooling her second son when he reached third grade. But the abrupt move to virtual schooling hastened her decision to withdraw him.

“He was at the end of second grade, and when the pandemic hit and they started virtual learning, it was just disastrous,” she said. “I tried it for a week and then I was like, home schooling is way easier.”

Lisowy wasn’t alone. As an experienced home-schooling parent, she received queries from two other parents last year.

“They contacted me and said, ‘We’re pulling out kids – what do we do?’” she recalled.

Many parents concluded that with young children, home schooling was easier and healthier than trying to keep them focused through nearly six hours of virtual classes on their computers.

Like the rest of the county, Jupiter Farms Elementary opened its doors to in-person students less than a month after the school year started. But by then, most parents had made their decisions.

For some, it may have been about masks

Anti-mask demonstrators stand along Forest Hill Boulevard outside the Palm Beach County School District offices in West Palm Beach during a school board meeting April 21. GREG LOVETT/PALM BEACH POST

Even then, for many parents there was another reason not to return: the requirement that students wear masks on campus.

Health experts say masks are an essential tool to reduce spread of the coronavirus, but some parents feel requiring children to wear masks all day is also unhealthy.

As the use of facial coverings evolved into a political flashpoint last year, some parents in politically conservative Jupiter Farms also began to see it as a form of social control.

The opposition to masks has increased in recent months as vaccination rates rise and infection rates wane. Parents from across the county have picketed outside the school district’s offices in recent months, demanding the requirement be removed immediately. 

Lisowy, whose youngest child still attends Jupiter Farms Elementary, said that for many parents in the community the mask debate had taken on symbolic significance.

 “I don’t feel masking is the issue as much as feeling you’re going along with something you disagree with,” she said. “I think the masking issue is more just people saying, 'We’re not stupid.'”

The requirement remains in place in the county’s public schools but will be lifted in August when the new school year starts, the district has said.

But even as pandemic measures loosen, other issues have risen to prominence in the community.

Anger rises from equity statement

When the school board approved an equity statement last month that vowed to battle “white advantage,” Jupiter Farms was a hot spot for community anger.

Compounding the problem, Jupiter Farms Elementary was one of the schools that decided to send copies of the new equity statement home with students last month.

The school board removed the reference from its equity statement after weeks of sustained complaints, but some Jupiter Farms parents have said they do not plan to return.

Neither Jupiter Farms Elementary Principal Suzanne Matuella nor incoming Deputy Schools Superintendent Ed Tierney responded to requests for comment for this article, but the district is putting resources into trying to persuade parents to re-enroll for the next school year.

The district has set aside for $190,000 overall, including $2,500 for Jupiter Farms Elementary, to pay school employees to reach out to families who unenrolled during nighttime or weekend hours.

For the school district, a lot hangs in the balance.

Schools are funded by the state based on the number of students, so an enrollment drop can mean eliminating teaching positions and, in some cases, certain school programs.

Lisowy, for her part, said her daughter will remain at Jupiter Farms Elementary next year, but her two sons will continue learning at home.

McQuinn said she was aware of the widespread opposition to mask requirements in Jupiter Farms but was nonetheless surprised so many students unenrolled entirely rather than staying on for virtual classes.

Given the community’s longstanding commitment to Jupiter Farms Elementary, she said she hoped most would return.

"My experience with Jupiter Farms is they are very supportive of their public schools,” she said.

amarra@pbpost.com

@AMarranara