Overcrowding Expected at Several Wake County Traditional Schools

This morning The News & Observer reported that the following elementary schools would feel the most significant overcrowding as measured by a percentage of capacity:

153% Olds
132% Underwood
127% Dillard Drive
125% Hunter
122% Cary
122% Bugg

One hundred and fifty three percent of capacity. That's over half. So a school with, say, 16 grade level teachers would need to add eight new teachers and two to three teacher assistants to handle the crowd. They'd have to find room for five to eight additional classrooms via converting teachers' work areas, the gym, the media center, the cafeteria, the computer lab, the art or music room, the broom closet, or by adding modular units.

Those schools gaining a fifth to a third more students would face similar dilemmas.

Myth:
The Wake County Board of Education, (BOE) is trying to punish parents and students by making the transition back to traditional schools as unbearable as possible.

Theory:
I don't believe the BOE has little better to do than to plot revenge on the populace. I think the School Board is bound by budgetary restrictions that hamper necessary changes. It costs money to convert 22 schools to Year Round and this late in the game, much of that money had probably already been spent or was allocated.

It was most likely not an option to abort the conversion, specially considering the fallout when the 2007-2008 budget is looked at and the BOE has to answer to the lost funds due to a halt in the production.

Considering the possibility that those 22 schools may have eventually converted in the coming years anyway due to undeniable growth trends this county has seen, I couldn't blame the Board for wrapping up the expenditures in the nearly completed conversion, even if it forced them to scramble to fulfill their commitments to the parents wanting to remain traditional.

Face it - Here We Are. Pointing fingers will help nobody at this stage. Work with your Board as they struggle to make ends meet with overcrowded (and undercrowded) schools, teacher and other resource shortages, and hammered bus schedules. I may be in the minority with this belief, but I feel that the Wake County Board of Education is on the right track in their attempts to make the system work for ALL our kids. Let's cut them a break, shall we, and let them attend to the matters at hand.
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