Many parents are turning to charter, cyber charter and home schooling for their children.

In the Jim Thorpe Area School District, the number of students choosing something other than traditional public school is on the rise.

But Superintendent Brian Gasper says that many of those students were already enrolled in the programs before they moved to the area.

So far this school year, 51 students from the school district have chosen charters, cyber charters, and home schooling, a 30 percent increase over 2016-17.

“Although the numbers are increasing just on paper, what we’re finding is a lot of students, when they’re coming to us, they’re already ingrained in a cyber school or home school and they move right into it,” Gasper said.

School districts are still financially responsible for their students if they attend a charter or cyber charter or home school.

Gasper prepared a presentation after board member Ronnie Marciente noticed that the number of enrollments were on the rise. The presentation compared how many students transferred out of Jim Thorpe schools, and how many were just new enrollments.

Of the students who enrolled in a charter, cyber charter or home school this year, 29 transferred out of the district, and 22 moved in while already enrolled elsewhere.

Overall, the percentage of students who transfer out is very low, Gasper said. In the 2016-17 school year, 11 students transferred out of the district’s two elementary schools, compared to a total enrollment of about 1500.

At the high school, the transfer rate is higher. Gasper said that is the case at high schools across the state.

Some students who have ongoing truancy, academic or behavioral problems tend to transfer into a charter or cyber charter rather than try to correct the situation at their local high school.

“We find historically when students are having progressive issues, whether it’s academic — we hold high standards at the high school — or behavior, their best result, instead of conforming, or doing what the need to do, they end up leaving.”

Gasper said that many of those students transfer right back into the school, something L.B. Morris Principal Holly Mordaunt verified.

“We do see them come back. Some in a day, some in a year. Many of them are in and out of cyber school and back in the regular building,” Mordaunt said.