N.J. private schools see surging demand. Yet they lost 5K students during the pandemic. – NJ.com

The phone at Princeton Day School was ringing all summer long.

Parents eager to find a school offering in-person instruction amid the coronavirus pandemic were willing to look past the more than $30,000 price tag for a spot at one of New Jersey’s top private academies. And as public schools pushed back reopening dates, the inquiries only continued into the fall, said Julie Cucchi, director of admission and financial aid at the renowned school.

“Parents just realized it was going to be a longer, you know, longer haul than even initially expected,” Cucchi said.

Despite the flood of phone calls, Princeton Day School declined to expand enrollment, saying it wanted to ensure proper social distancing for its existing students. Its decision underscores a striking dichotomy between anecdotal tales of surging demand for private schools and state statistics that reveal the most dramatic decline in private school enrollment in a decade, an NJ Advance Media analysis found.

Though many frustrated families say they have transferred their children to private schools, enrollment at registered independent schools decreased by 5,095 students for the 2020-21 school year, a decline of more than 3%, according to the state Department of Education.

What’s behind the divide — and if enrollment significantly increased after the state collected data in October — is not entirely clear. But what is apparent is how the pandemic decimated financially struggling private schools while funneling interest to some Catholic elementary schools as well as elite academies that routinely turn away students.

“Throughout this year, it was pretty easy to see announcements from districts that then resulted in interest,” said Maureen Leming, director of strategic marketing and communications at The Hun School of Princeton, which accepted about 15 additional students. “You know, the calls come in waves.”

Private school enrollment in New Jersey has regularly fallen over the past decade, so it’s not entirely surprising that it would continue to drop during a period of financial uncertainty for many families.

However, a 5,000-student decline in enrollment when so many families were desperate for in-person learning is “perplexing,” said David Hespe, a former state education commissioner under governors Christie Todd Whitman and Chris Christie.

Hepse’s best guess is that many families did not switch to private schools until after Oct. 15, he said. But there are other possible explanations, such as private school closings or families pulling their children out in favor of home school, he said.

There are also private schools that do not register with the state (registering makes schools eligible for certain public funding) that could have gained students.

“It is very difficult to compare the pandemic year with prior years just for a whole bunch of different reasons,” Hespe said.

Few could have predicted the pandemic’s sustained impact on education last spring, when many schools closed for what was supposed to be a two-week precautionary period. But the ramifications for private schools quickly became apparent.

Many Catholic schools were unsure in the summer when students would fully return to the classroom or how much the cost of added safety measures would eat into their tight budgets. Skyrocketing unemployment numbers only added more uncertainty, as some families wondered how they could pay tuition.

For some religious schools that were already teetering on the brink, the first wave of the pandemic was too much to handle.

New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses announced over the summer that at least 19 schools would be shuttered in the fall and at least five others were being merged with nearby schools, continuing what has become an annual downsizing.

The Diocese of Trenton’s enrollment declined by 700 students from last school year, said Rayanne Bennett, the diocese’s executive director of communications.

“The drop from last year to this was in keeping with declines from years prior,” Bennett said.

Catholic school closures and enrollment declines in certain parts of the state may have offset gains in other communities.

The Diocese of Paterson gained nearly 450 new students from pre-K through high school, with the majority coming at the beginning of the school year, said Richard A. Sokerka, the diocese’s director of communications.

Neither the Archdiocese of Newark nor the Diocese of Metuchen provided specific data on enrollment, but both said they experienced success in some areas, notably in Catholic schools that opened for in-person instruction in Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties.

“We have seen an increase in enrollment in our elementary schools that we attribute to our decision to safely continue in-person learning, which we have found is preferred by many families,” said Maria Margiotta, director of the office of communications and public relations for the Archdiocese of Newark.

Several schools in the Diocese of Metuchen have wait lists for next year, said Anthony P. Kearns III, spokesperson and chancellor for the diocese.

“Many Catholic schools in the Diocese of Metuchen are continuing to work with prospective families this year and have already begun enrolling for next year,” Kearns said in a statement, “so it is difficult to say for certain exactly how the pandemic has affected enrollment totals across the diocese.”

State Department of Education data offers few clues to overall trends in school enrollment this year.

The state has yet to provide an official 2020-21 public school enrollment number beyond a rounded 1.35 million figure used by Gov. Phil Murphy. So while enrollment appears to be down — it was 1,375,829 students in 2019-20 — it’s unclear exactly how much and to what degree it can be attributed to a shrinking school age population.

The state also has yet to release its district-by-district enrollment report collected in the fall. While school districts must tell the state the number of students who leave public school for home instruction, the state does not track homeschool enrollment.

Once data is available, it’s important to determine how the pandemic has affected where students are learning, Hepse said.

“As we prepare for next school year, we need to understand enrollment patterns,” he said. “Enrollment patterns in the public schools, but also enrollment patterns in the private schools and homeschool kids.”

When parents turned to private schools this year, it’s possible many families struggled to find a spot for their children, especially at pricier academies and prep schools that emphasize smaller class sizes and have a regimented annual enrollment process.

Princeton Day School primarily heard from parents who had been happy with their public schools, but were looking for a change because of COVID-related school closures, Cucchi said. There was also interest from New York City transplants who fled to New Jersey’s suburbs during the pandemic.

“At one point during the summer, we just had to say that we weren’t adding any more students to our school,” Cucchi said. “Even late in the fall, we were getting calls. You know, people saying, ‘Was there any possibility they could start immediately?’”

The Hun School of Princeton expanded enrollment from about 650 to 665, Leming said. The school usually receives two or three requests for mid-year transfers, but heard from about a dozen families this year. It wasn’t able to accommodate any of those students, she said.

The school is also seeing a growing demand for next academic year and is on pace to receive five to six applications for every available opening in the fall of 2021, she said. Many grades already have wait lists, she said.

“This is definitely an unusual academic year for all kids nationally,” Leming said, “and I think parents really want to make the most of next year.”

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Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.

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