Tippy Valley Studies Need For More Space
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
AKRON -ÊDepending on which statistical method one uses, the number of students at Tippecanoe Valley High School in 2015 will range from 668 to 892.
The growing student population is one reason the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. has begun a feasibility study on the high school. Monday, the first community discussion was held in the high school auditorium. The purpose of Monday's meeting was to discuss enrollment projections and the assessment of the high school facility.
TVSC Superintendent Dr. Karen Boling said the space at the high school has been looked at since the middle of last year. Initial findings were reported to the school board who then asked the feasibility study to be done and reported to the corporation and community. No official findings have been presented to the board yet and the meeting Monday was only part of the data gathering process.
Boling then turned the meeting over to Gary Turner, of R.W. Clinton & Associates Architects, who are conducting the feasibility study for TVSC.
Turner said the feasibility study will include a sequence of tasks. The immediate task was to send out surveys, do enrollment projections and survey the facility itself, all of which has been completed. Monday's meeting was part of the second step, which includes three community meetings. The next meeting will be May 15 at 7 p.m. at the high school.
The third part of the feasibility study will be a community workshop in mid-June and then a report and presentation to the school board in early July, Turner said.
Enrollment projections were figured three different ways.
The cohort survival technique studies the advancement of students from one grade to another and produces the most conservative numbers. According to the cohort survival technique, the high school will have 754 students in 2000, 831 in 2005, 658 in 2010 and 668 in 2015.
The proportionate share technique looks at the state, county and region and the growth trends for each of those areas. It produces a modest growth projection. Under this technique, Turner reported, the high school population will be 740 in 2000, 764 in 2005, 724 in 2010 and 784 in 2015.
The historical growth rate technique is a simple trend analysis that looks at the past 10 years to project future growth. It has the sharpest student increase. According to Turner, under this technique the high school population will be 728 in 2000, 780 in 2005, 836 in 2010 and 892 in 2015.
Turner also provided projections on the number of classrooms at the high school that will be needed as the corporation expands.
For example, in 2000, with 25 students per classroom, and each classroom being used at 60 percent, 30.2 core classrooms are needed for a high school student body of 754. With the classrooms being used 80 percent of the time, 22.6 classrooms are needed for the core classes. However, in the current building, there are only 19 classrooms for core classes and 41 classrooms for all classes. Turner provided similar numbers for every five-year increment from 2000 to 2015 and under each different statistical method.
At the 60-percent use rate, Turner said, the school will have room to grow. At 80 percent, the school is considered full because it's hard to schedule a class.
After Turner went through all the numbers, the floor was opened for public discussion.
Turner was asked how classroom sizes will be affected, if at all, by use of the Internet. Turner replied that the Internet doesn't reduce the effect for having facilities.
TVSC board member Rod Eaton asked about school corporations leasing buildings. Turner said he hasn't seen any corporation do that mainly because they are constrained by the law on how schools are built and operated.
Don Snipes said that 25 years ago when the current high school was built, the total TVSC student body was about 2,100, and now it's only 2,279.
Turner said that while that's true, the number of credits required for a student to graduate has increased and inclusion is now required. Curriculum, he said, has changed and that drives space. He said another factor is prime time. Schools try to limit the number of students per classroom.
One TVSC teacher said all the custodian closets have been taken up for classrooms.
Turner said according to the numbers, the high school is overcrowded. He said the high school is currently 10 classes short of where they need to be. He then asked the crowd of approximately 30 what numbers they want the feasibility study to focus on.
Boling said the numbers should focus on 25 students per classroom with a capacity use rate of 60 percent, using the cohort survival method.
TVSC board member Mark Wise said he thought 60 percent was too low but 80 percent was too high. He said he wanted to see numbers around 70 percent.
The next meeting was scheduled for May 15 at 7 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]
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AKRON -ÊDepending on which statistical method one uses, the number of students at Tippecanoe Valley High School in 2015 will range from 668 to 892.
The growing student population is one reason the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. has begun a feasibility study on the high school. Monday, the first community discussion was held in the high school auditorium. The purpose of Monday's meeting was to discuss enrollment projections and the assessment of the high school facility.
TVSC Superintendent Dr. Karen Boling said the space at the high school has been looked at since the middle of last year. Initial findings were reported to the school board who then asked the feasibility study to be done and reported to the corporation and community. No official findings have been presented to the board yet and the meeting Monday was only part of the data gathering process.
Boling then turned the meeting over to Gary Turner, of R.W. Clinton & Associates Architects, who are conducting the feasibility study for TVSC.
Turner said the feasibility study will include a sequence of tasks. The immediate task was to send out surveys, do enrollment projections and survey the facility itself, all of which has been completed. Monday's meeting was part of the second step, which includes three community meetings. The next meeting will be May 15 at 7 p.m. at the high school.
The third part of the feasibility study will be a community workshop in mid-June and then a report and presentation to the school board in early July, Turner said.
Enrollment projections were figured three different ways.
The cohort survival technique studies the advancement of students from one grade to another and produces the most conservative numbers. According to the cohort survival technique, the high school will have 754 students in 2000, 831 in 2005, 658 in 2010 and 668 in 2015.
The proportionate share technique looks at the state, county and region and the growth trends for each of those areas. It produces a modest growth projection. Under this technique, Turner reported, the high school population will be 740 in 2000, 764 in 2005, 724 in 2010 and 784 in 2015.
The historical growth rate technique is a simple trend analysis that looks at the past 10 years to project future growth. It has the sharpest student increase. According to Turner, under this technique the high school population will be 728 in 2000, 780 in 2005, 836 in 2010 and 892 in 2015.
Turner also provided projections on the number of classrooms at the high school that will be needed as the corporation expands.
For example, in 2000, with 25 students per classroom, and each classroom being used at 60 percent, 30.2 core classrooms are needed for a high school student body of 754. With the classrooms being used 80 percent of the time, 22.6 classrooms are needed for the core classes. However, in the current building, there are only 19 classrooms for core classes and 41 classrooms for all classes. Turner provided similar numbers for every five-year increment from 2000 to 2015 and under each different statistical method.
At the 60-percent use rate, Turner said, the school will have room to grow. At 80 percent, the school is considered full because it's hard to schedule a class.
After Turner went through all the numbers, the floor was opened for public discussion.
Turner was asked how classroom sizes will be affected, if at all, by use of the Internet. Turner replied that the Internet doesn't reduce the effect for having facilities.
TVSC board member Rod Eaton asked about school corporations leasing buildings. Turner said he hasn't seen any corporation do that mainly because they are constrained by the law on how schools are built and operated.
Don Snipes said that 25 years ago when the current high school was built, the total TVSC student body was about 2,100, and now it's only 2,279.
Turner said that while that's true, the number of credits required for a student to graduate has increased and inclusion is now required. Curriculum, he said, has changed and that drives space. He said another factor is prime time. Schools try to limit the number of students per classroom.
One TVSC teacher said all the custodian closets have been taken up for classrooms.
Turner said according to the numbers, the high school is overcrowded. He said the high school is currently 10 classes short of where they need to be. He then asked the crowd of approximately 30 what numbers they want the feasibility study to focus on.
Boling said the numbers should focus on 25 students per classroom with a capacity use rate of 60 percent, using the cohort survival method.
TVSC board member Mark Wise said he thought 60 percent was too low but 80 percent was too high. He said he wanted to see numbers around 70 percent.
The next meeting was scheduled for May 15 at 7 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]