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Wednesday, September 5, 2007
School Overcrowding: When Will It End?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Cherokee County may take some drastic measures — including implementing year-round schedules and busing students miles from their homes — to relieve school overcrowding.
According to today’s story by education reporter Diane Stepp, nine of Cherokee’s 38 public schools are considered “critically overcrowded,” meaning they operate at 140 percent or more of their intended capacity.
At Woodstock High School, enrollment now exceeds classroom space by nearly 1,200 students. About 40 portable classrooms have been brought in to help with the overflow.
School overcrowding is a never-ending issue in metro Atlanta. Last week, Gwinnett County education writer Laura Diamond reported that Mill Creek High School, which opened just three years ago with about 2,400 students, now has an eye-popping 4,000.
Cherokee Superintendent Frank Petruzielo is placing some of the blame for his system’s situation on developers who’ve refused to donate land for new schools. But, even if they did, the system would still have to come up with the funds to build the new campuses.
So here’s my question: When are school systems, developers and city and county governments going to start working together to control the out-of-control growth in some public schools — and when are citizens going to make them?
