THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 11, 1994 TAG: 9411110685
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA MCNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
The School Board on Thursday began to grapple with an unexpected problem: Enrollment at the county's two newest public schools has already reached or exceeded capacity.
Carrollton Elementary School, in the northern end of the county near Smithfield, opened in the fall of 1993. It was built for 750 students and now has 762, schools Superintendent Jane York said this week.
And Windsor Middle/High School, in the southern end, opened in September with 842 students, only eight under capacity.
``The enrollment projections just came about faster than expected,'' York said. ``We really don't know what happened.'' The schools weren't expected to reach capacity for three or four years, she said.
The two schools are part of a multimillion-dollar construction plan that calls for building an elementary school in Carrsville, near Franklin, and renovating four other schools.
The School Board didn't begin the building program without planning. But the two enrollment projections it used - one by the state Department of Education, the other by a private consultant - failed to predict the influx of new students into Isle of Wight.
At Thursday night's meeting, School Board Chairman Richard L. Peerey sought more information on where all the new students came from.
``I'd like to ask the staff to bring back some solutions to alleviate overcrowding,'' he said.
A possible solution for Carrollton Elementary might be to redraw attendance zones, York said.
``That way, we wouldn't have to build anything or add trailers at Carrollton,'' she said. ``Before the construction, we had 19 trailers spread over three schools. We literally had another school. We thought we had three or four years to breathe.''
Windsor Middle/High may pose a bigger problem. The common areas like the cafeteria and the gymnasium were built for only 850 students, York said, which limits the potential to expand the school.
The School Board is expected to address the space crunch again at its December meeting. by CNB