Empty seats at New Tech High School
A reader – viewer, actually – recently asked if New Technology High School* was working out. I think the suggestion was that they didn’t have enough student interest to fill their classes.
Well, DeeAnn Konrad, spokeswoman for the school district, tells me that’s not the case: They had 129 incoming freshmen apply for this fall and 137 last year, she said.
They’re now taking 100 students in each class, so there may be students who want to get in but don’t.
NTHS has struggled with a lack of interest before, however.
They had 167 apply for the first class, in 2010-11, and 110 were chosen. But interest was down in year two before bouncing back in year three.
According to the latest DOE fall enrollment report, the school had 258 students a few months ago:
89 juniors
72 sophomores
97 freshmen
The school district’s NTHS web page says fall enrollment there was only 231 students. I don’t know what accounts for the discrepancy.
The school district surely expected to have more students at that school three years in, but I don’t see them throwing in the towel on the concept. Besides their belief in project-based learning and options for kids, they recently renovated that wing of STI and it takes enrollment pressure off the other high schools.
*NTHS, which operates out of Southeast Technical Institute, is a full-time high school. Students who otherwise would have gone to Lincoln, Washington or Roosevelt choose to go to NTHS, where they each get a computer, take cross-disciplinary classes and learn through projects. They also take classes for college credit their junior and senior years. NTHS does not have its own sports teams, but students can play sports for LHS, RHS or WHS.
Oh, and they use their phones during class:
