Say Bye Bye to the 13th High School
by pwceducationreform
Be forewarned. Word on the street is that the 13th high school might not happen. Not because of political pressure due to the controversy over the grandiose scale of the 12th high school and its pool, but because the county can’t afford to take on any more debt.
Overcrowding and School Construction
Residents in the western end of the county have grown accustomed to overcrowded schools and jam packed classrooms. Overcrowding is the norm out here, not the exception. And not just mild overcrowding; I mean overcrowding that is so severe that the county has to purchase trailers filled with port-a-potties because there aren’t enough bathrooms, that some kids never set foot inside a building the entire day because they have all their classes in trailers, AND that lunch starts less than a hour after the school day begins and ends less than an hour before the school day ends.
Bristow Run and Cedar Point Elementary Schools were overcapacity the day they opened their doors more than 10 years ago. At one point Cedar Point Elementary, which was built for 800 students, had over 1200 students attending. Monday early closing was almost impossible to do because they couldn’t get all of the kids through lunch. For Bristow Run the relief was supposed to be Cedar Point, but when Cedar Point opened so many new students had arrived that both Bristow Run and Cedar Point were overcapacity. Then relief was supposed to come from Ellis Elementary, and then Victory, and then Glenkirk. Relief finally came for Bristow Run and Cedar Point when T Clay Wood and Piney Branch opened in the Fall of 2011. Victory and Buckland Mills are still overcapacity and won’t see relief, reportedly, until the Haymarket and Devlin Road Elementary Schools open.
So many children showed up the day Marsteller opened it’s doors that they didn’t have enough desks or chairs for the