Students crowded into the front lobby in the morning. By Kait Kleynen
There have been rumors concerning how a huge increase in the high school’s population will occur due to the large bubble of seventh graders currently in the middle school. But what does this mean for the school, its size and the parking lot?
High school assistant principal and athletic director Christopher Adams admitted that there is a bubble in the middle school, but he said, “it should level out.”
There is a slight increase in the number of students coming into the district, but Adams said, “we lost almost as many students so it somewhat equaled out.”
Sophomore Sivan Menache said, “I haven’t actually felt a great surge in the student population.”
Menache admitted that she may not have really realized the increase since she’s “gone through school with most of the same people since kindergarten.”
In terms of the high school’s size, Adams said, “[the administrators] are fine with the projected number of students coming into the building.”
This raises the question as to how the classroom setting and teachers are going to deal with the population increase, to which there is no real answer yet. Menache said more students in classrooms means less individualized attention for each student.
The school parking lot, where students need passes to park, is another concern among students. At the high school, students can only park in spaces outlined in white, and there is a total of 195 student parking spaces.
In the last week of October, pass number 191 was handed out. It’s not even halfway through the school year, and a waiting list for parking permits has already been started, Adams reported.
Menache is not really concerned with the parking spaces since she knows “there will still be a fair amount of kids walking to school, getting a ride from parents, or riding the bus.”
Only time can really tell if the high school is ready for the “bubble” coming up from the middle school in the next few years. Hopefully, the administration and teachers will be able to accommodate for these changes.