‘Still feeling it’: Phoenix-Talent School District enrollment remains low, five years after Almeda Fire

‘Still feeling it’: Phoenix-Talent School District enrollment remains low, five years after Almeda Fire

At 9:40 a.m. on Sept. 2, dozens of students at Orchard Hill Elementary School in Medford, Oregon, streamed into the sunshine to run off their first-day-of-school jitters at recess. One kid sprinted so fast, he lost a shoe.But the joyful scene was less vibrant than it might have been five years ago, before the Almeda Fire. Orchard Hill is still down by more than 100 students.Many school districts across the state are seeing declining enrollment f…