Abby enrollment

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the needs of those students.

“They are coming to us with a lot of needs,” Frischmann said. “Seventy-five percent of the [kids] that came in since January 1 are homeless by definition. You know, doubled up with other families, had to make sure they had snowpants, food, shoes, boots. They truly came to us with just a backpack. It’s just something I think you should be aware of.”

She said the staff has been very accommodating despite the weekly additions they have had to adjust to.

“I know I say it every week but our staff has been amazing at handling [the extra students]. It’s not just the classroom, it’s pupil services and intervention and all of the support staff that have helped as well.”

District Administrator Ryan Bargender said they had expected an increase in enrollment but said there have been more inschool enrollments with very little heads up the kids are coming this year as opposed to years prior.

Bargender reminded the board that board member Ivone Vazquez had been saying for years that this spike in enrollment would be coming down the line and then said, “It’s here.”

Bargender said there have been rumors floating around that “a bunch more” kids are coming to the area but he said there’s no way to know for sure how many or when kids will be coming.

“We won’t know unfortunately until they show up how many students are coming,” Bargender said. “That’s just kind of how it works.”

At a previous board meeting, Bargender had said that new students were coming to Abbotsford with a variety of language barriers. He said the district has had kids enroll who are speakers of Vietnamese, Portuguese and Zapotec among other dialects.

Vazquez later said during the meeting that a new immigration system allows families of those that might already live in the area to come to the U.S. using a temporary visa program. She said they are here legally and are “Chasing the American dream.” She said there are likely more on the way as she said 50 or 60 plane tickets were recently purchased by her business for incoming immigrants.

Vazquez said the district can only expect enrollment numbers to rise.

“The numbers are not going to drop any time soon,” Vazquez said. “They’re going to keep coming.”

The upward trend of enrollment numbers has been one that has been increasing since 2013. Enrollment during the 201314 school year was 381 in the elementary school and 329 in the middle and high schools for a total of 710 students. By 201819 the district had added 50 students to its total and this year, the district accounted for 810 students, a 100+ student increase in 10 years. Since the numbers were submitted in September, the district has added 24 total students as of January 15. The current numbers are 430 students in the elementary school, 404 students in the high school for a total of 834 students throughout the district.

The district is going to referendum in April for a $17 million facility upgrade plan which would include the addition of six classrooms in the middle/high school and two in the elementary school to accommodate increasing class sizes. The district also added three classrooms in the FEMA building for this school year.

Girls basketball numbers

During the athletic director’s report, board member Eric Brodhagen asked the board about a potential co-op for the girls’ basketball team due to low numbers.

Brodhagen shared his concern that the middle school basketball numbers were not very strong and said he did not want to see the team go without a JV team and have girls sit on the bench during varsity games while getting no playing experience. He suggested that the district explore a JV only co-op with another school.

“It looks like the numbers are really struggling at the middle school level and we’re losing numbers at the high school level as well.”

Pilgrim said girls basketball numbers everywhere have been dropping.

“It’s a lot of larger schools too that are struggling to get more girls out,” Pilgrim said. “I don’t want to say Covid killed it, but it’s everywhere.”

Bargender said a reason for this has been the emergence of club volleyball which is played at the same time the basketball season runs. Brodhagen said a full combination with Colby wouldn’t be out of the question in the future.

“I wonder if it’s going to be Abby-Colby girls basketball,” Brodhagen said. “Is that something they’re open to? I don’t know how their numbers are looking but ours are getting to a point where that’s going to be a conversation.”

“Our middle school numbers are scary,” Pilgrim said.

Athletic Director Alex Larson was not in attendance at the meeting but Pilgrim said she would ask Alex what his thoughts on a future co-op would be.

Other business

n Before winter break, work was done by Haas Sons, Inc. and Market and Johnson on the football booth development. The concrete piers were put in place at no cost to the district. Bargender said both companies donated the work and that the steel for the structure should be put in place soon.

n Bargender notified the board that the first all school tornado drill to use the FEMA building was a success. He said grades 3-12 all fit in the FEMA gym while grades 3K-2 were dispersed between classrooms in the FEMA addition. The building is said to be able to withstand an F5 tornado and would be able to fit the whole district in the event of a tornado during the school day.

n The Consumer Price Index for salary negotiations has been released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and is set at 4.21.

n Falcon Enterprises Alternative High School will have a new teacher after Lori Eisch told the board she would be retiring from the position. Gary Gunderson and Barb Salisbury will be helping out for the rest of the school year while the board searches for a new teacher for the 2024-25 school year.