Kansas City, Mo. ? Kansas City Schools Superintendent Bernard Taylor is looking to create single-sex schools to possibly lure back thousands of lost pupils.

The district’s enrollment, while up slightly this year, has plunged by about 9,000 over the past eight years. At a school board retreat Saturday, Taylor said Kansas City must do more to attract those mostly middle-class families back.

“Single-sex academies could help attract families back to the district,” he said, “and improve academic achievement.”

Support likely would be mixed among board members.

Harriett Plowman, a board member whose oldest daughter attends an all-girls Catholic school, said she liked giving parents the option of public same-sex schools.

But Ingrid Burnett, another board member, said she’s reluctant to approve single-sex schools but would consider single-sex classrooms within coeducational buildings.

Taylor offered no timeline for his proposal.

At least 10 single-sex public schools were to open this fall in five states — Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and South Carolina. Meanwhile, the number of U.S. public schools offering single-sex classes has jumped dramatically — by one count, from four to 140 in the past eight years.

Advocates say same-sex instruction can improve learning by easing the peer pressure that can lead to misbehavior as well as low self-esteem among girls.

But some women’s groups and the American Civil Liberties Union view such classes and schools as segregated and do not approve.

Taylor’s proposal and the increase in single-sex public schools and classes elsewhere come after Bush administration changes to Title IX, the federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools.