Brownsville ISD is seeing a drop in student enrollment, and district officials said it's affecting the roles of some teachers.

The district is seeing a drop in enrollment of 1,600 students this school year.

According to Patrick Hammes, leader of the teacher’s union Brownsville Educators Stand Together, teachers at Pullam Elementary were reassigned after the campus saw a drop in 70 students. 

Brownsville ISD Superintendent Jesus Chavez confirmed to Channel 5 News the reassignment was happening to move teachers to schools with larger enrollment.

“We did have a number of folks that maybe lived here and moved back to Mexico," Chavez said.

The movements are being done in line with a new district guideline where the district is asking for volunteers first.

Teachers with few reassignments will then be considered. Teachers with seniority won't be transferred if they have multiple certifications.

New teachers will not be moved.

Chavez said there is another option to prevent teachers from being reassigned, but it's one he'd rather not choose.

“We hire 150, 200, 400 people to come do substitute teaching,” Chavez said. “So if we do wind up with 20 teachers that we don't have a spot for, then you will be that teacher."

The district said they're working to visit families at their homes to encourage them to come back to the district.

Watch the video above for the full story.