The annual enrollment figures are enough to make Pittsburgh Public Schools officials cringe:

The district's 2008-09 official enrollment is 26,649 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. That's down 1,616 students from a year ago, continuing a decline that stretches back decades.

Now, the district is taking steps to better understand the drop and do what it can to stem the hemorrhaging.

The school board in November voted to make a study of enrollment decline one of Superintendent Mark Roosevelt's priorities this school year. Lisa Fischetti, chief of staff, said the work will involve interviews with families who withdrew children from city schools.

Meanwhile, to lure additional students, the district is planning a stepped-up kindergarten recruitment campaign.

It also recently mailed information about the Pittsburgh Promise college scholarship program to families that don't have children in city schools, hoping to lure those students into the system, too.

"We welcome this opportunity to let you know why you should consider the Pittsburgh Public Schools for your child's education ... Now, with the Pittsburgh Promise, there is even more reason for your family to take a fresh look at the options and offerings available," Mr. Roosevelt said in the mailer.

Officials also are planning customer-service training next month for clerical employees, who often are the first to have contact with visitors and have an opportunity to create a favorable impression.

The training is part of a plan to create a more welcoming environment in district buildings. Another possibility, Ms. Fischetti said: signs in every school to help visitors find their way from the door to the office.

The initiatives build on previous work -- standardizing of school names and stationery and liberal use of the district's "Excellence for All" logo, for example -- to enhance the district's image.

Enrollment decline is a common problem for urban school districts, and Pittsburgh is among those battling charter and suburban schools for students.

Some parents attribute part of the enrollment drop in recent years to Mr. Roosevelt's school closings and consolidations. The district, however, says its new schools -- including a sci-tech school to debut in the fall -- have the potential to raise the district's profile.

While a shrinking city population may continue to work against the district, Ms. Fischetti said, she wants to capture as many students as possible. For example, about 85 percent of students in the city's early-childhood classes go on to the district's kindergarten program.

"We're trying to see about the other 15 percent," Ms. Fischetti said. The kindergarten recruitment push will be an annual event tied to Valentine's Day and feature a new, streamlined process for moving from pre-K to kindergarten, she said.

The study of enrollment decline will be led by Marni Pastor, who joined the district last summer from the Los Angeles-based Broad Residency program.

The Broad Residency is a two-year leadership development program that places participants in managerial positions in urban districts and helps pay their salaries. The program is a cousin of the Broad Superintendents Academy, which trained Mr. Roosevelt.

The school board last month hired a Carnegie Mellon University graduate student to help Ms. Pastor, who already has visited schools to conduct informal surveys of employees and parents.