LORDSTOWN — The elimination of jobs because of the unallocated status of the General Motors Lordstown plant and closure of some of its suppliers are affecting not only enrollment at Lordstown schools, but also districts in surrounding communities, including Austintown.

The Austintown district has seen a 3-percent decline in the number of students each year over the last five years, according to district spokeswoman Brittany Morrell.

“Our district’s ADM (Average Daily Membership) is down 270 students since July 2016,” Morrell said. “While it is difficult to attribute every withdrawal to economic conditions, we have lost 65 students since the beginning of 2019 to out-of-state moves, with many of those cases being GM families.”

Morrell said the district’s student population losses are based on a variety of causes, not just what happened in Lordstown.

The district is addressing the loss of students and the associated loss of income by not replacing some positions lost through attrition and proactively reducing positions where student loss has the largest impact.

Lordstown has lost about 17 students as a direct result of the job losses, Superintendent Terry Armstrong said, but said the financial effect on the district will be minimal because many GM families lived outside the village and there is growth of other businesses in the area.

The district receives about $2,500 per student in state funding.

“The impact of the closing was not only felt by those parents who had to make the difficult decision on whether to stay or to leave, but also by parents who decided one parent would travel to a different GM plant to continue working while the other parent remains in the area with their children,” Armstrong said.

The Lakeview School District has lost seven students, according to district officials.

Weathersfield Schools Superintendent Damon Dohar said the district lost between seven to 10 kids because of parents leaving to find work elsewhere, he said. There also are between 20 and 25 students who have one parent who transferred to another GM plant and the other parent decided to remain in the area.

“We’ve lost some really good students and good families,” Dohar said. “I’ve seen the stress this has been having on some of our kids. It is really tough.”

Dohar said the district did not create any new programs to help those that may be having a difficult time adjusting.

“We already have programs to help students that come in for counseling,” he said. “I have noticed that more students have been taking part in our program that allows students to say in school until 5 p.m. That may be because some families may have only one parent available to pick up their children after school.”

Dohar described personally knowing a family in which the father, a longtime GM employee whose annual salary is in the mid-$80,000 range who went to a different plant, and the mother’s local job, which also is well paying, decided to remain in the area so they are keeping their kids in the district.

“I’ve spoken to a number of families facing this same kind of issue over this past summer,” Dohar said.

The school district earns about $3,200 per child in state funding. The district had approximately 985 students during the last school year.

Niles schools Superintendent Ann Marie Thigpen said the district could not, at this time, quantify the number of students it has lost because of the GM plant’s idling and related company closures.

“The closures have forced some of our families to make some very difficult decisions,” she said. “Whether these families have had to leave the area for new opportunities or have faced being separated as they navigate this new chapter in their lives, it’s always been our goal to make sure these students’ needs are met and that we provide the services necessary for a successful transition.”

Armstrong said district officials have been working to keep both staff members and the community informed of how the loss of students may affect it as they get more information. Lordstown has not replaced a director of transportation and one teacher who left the district, while two other veteran teachers who left were replaced with younger teachers at lower salaries, he said.

As a direct result of what what happened at the GM plant, the district has been working with Wee Care Day Care.

“There are parents whose work shifts do not align with school schedules, so having the association with Wee Care Day Care has helped some parents have a place where their children can be during they time they are working and their schools are not in operation,” Armstrong said.

The Trumbull County Educational Service Center has been working to supply school districts the necessary training and counselors to help students who may be experiencing anxiety and other issues because of what is happening at the plant.

“Students may be affected because their parents or their friends are moving away,” Denise Holloway, a TCESC supervisor said. “It can be a hard and traumatic transition. We are trying to provide the mental health services they may need.”

Holloway said most of the counseling work is done at the district level.

Tiffany Davis, a Lordstown teacher whose husband, Tom, transferred from the Lordstown GM plant in July to a plant in Bowling Green, Ky., has been teaching in Lordstown for 11 years. The couple has two children still attending Girard City Schools.

Tom Davis began working out of the GM plant shortly after graduating out of high school approximately 13 years ago. He helped pay for her college education with the money he earned at General Motors.

“We decided to do this for a year,” Tiffany Davis said. “There were so many choices that had to be made. I didn’t want to leave my job and we did not want to pull our children out of their schools, only to bring them back here if a new vehicle is placed in the plant.

“We did not want to bounce our children around,” she said.

Tom Davis drives seven hours each direction every weekend to see his family.

“I work a full shift and then get on the road, so I can be here by 10 p.m. Fridays,” he said. “I leave Sunday afternoon, so I can get back to my apartment on Sunday and go back to work on Monday.

“It is difficult on the kids,” he said. “It is difficult on us. We talk every night to make this as normal as possible, but it is not the same.”

rsmith@tribtoday.com