Broward School Officials Go Looking For Unenrolled Students

TAMARAC (CBSMiami) – Thousands of Broward County students still haven't enrolled for the 2021-22 school year. To help those children get back in the classroom, district officials went door knocking.

The hundreds of Broward county school district personnel and teacher union officials went door to door looking for students who haven't shown up to school.

"Currently, we have approximately 10,000 students who have returned back to us that we were expecting or are not attending school on a regular basis," said Interim Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright.

The door knocks are necessary to connect with the students and their parents.

School board member Debbi Hixon was among the group. She said the goal is to make sure the students are getting the education they need from somewhere.

"We need to gather that data and make sure that they're OK. And two, we want to make sure that they are enrolled in some kind of school. If they're not in our school, where are they?" said Hixon.

Many like Broward Teachers Union President Anna Fusco blame the decrease student enrollment on the pandemic.

"I think the main reason is what's happening with COVID, they still may have a little bit of concerns with how we're handling COVID, physically," she said.

Currently, they about 250,000 students enrolled in the district. Officials say many parents are worried about the quarantine and other safety protocols. But licensed school psychologist Angela Brinson said there maybe also be other factors keep students away.

"Our students are experiencing an adjustment issue. They're been away from school for 18 months they've been grieving at home they haven't had the socialization need it so they're struggling right now," said Brinson.

As for Interim Superintendent Cartwright, she said they're not stopping their outreach until they connect with all the missing students.

"We started off with a phone campaign, so this is an additional step and we will continue with our efforts in order to locate our children because we want them back in our seats in Broward County Public Schools," added Cartwright .