CALABASAS : Enrollment Figures Below Projections

Enrollment on the first day of school Monday disappointed administrators at Las Virgenes Unified School District, although two Calabasas elementary schools had enough unanticipated students to fill two classrooms. Head counts taken Monday showed the district 68 students below the projected 10,362 for this school year, Assistant Supt. Don Zimring said.

The preliminary figures are “a little disappointing,” Zimring said, but district officials expect enrollment to increase slightly this week, as students return who were not yet back at school Monday.

Preliminary counts showed an expected pattern of rising enrollments in the eastern part of the district and drops in the western portion, including Agoura Hills and Westlake Village.

Sumac and Willow elementary schools were below projected enrollment by 30 and 21 students, respectively, and Agoura High School enrollment was nearly 100 below the expected number, Zimring said.

But despite the decrease in enrollment districtwide, the number of elementary school students in two Calabasas schools increased.

At Lupin Hill Elementary School, 54 more children showed up than were anticipated last year. At A. E. Wright Middle School, the figure was 38 students over projection.

“We’ve been really holding our breath, because the housing market there has been so bad,” Zimring said. “But we’re getting a lot of young families with kids coming in, which is good.”