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Most of Warsaw's elementary schools are over or near target capacity this school year.
The two schools over target capacity are Jefferson and Harrison elementary schools.
According to enrollment figures provided by the Warsaw Community School Corp. Central Office Wednesday, Harrison's enrollment is 703, 100.4 percent of its target capacity of 700. Jefferson has an enrollment of about 384, 102.4 percent of its target capacity of 375.
Jefferson Principal Dennis Duncan and Harrison Principal Randy Polston both said they are making use of all the space they have in their schools.
Duncan said, "Our teachers are very flexible and they always manage." With the overcrowding, the lack of space is limiting the school's ability to group students to provide for unique learning needs, he said. Students come in with different learning abilities and needs. Some students need to hear a lesson three or more times to understand, while other students know the lesson before it is presented. The space limitations leave no space to move the students around. Some class sizes are big. "It limits our ability to be creative," he said.
Duncan said every inch of space is used, but Jefferson was not impacted by the closing of the three elementary schools several years ago. "I think it's just the growth of the Winona Lake Community," he said. The Village at Winona is attracting people and Winona Lake is becoming a place where younger couples want to live, he said.
At the end of the 2003-04 school year, Atwood, Silver Lake and Claypool elementary schools were closed. Since then, students at those schools have been transported to other schools. The school board has since said Claypool will be reopened, but also are considering renovating and expanding Claypool and building at least one new elementary school, but no decision has been made. Five architectural firms were interviewed July 19-20. On Aug. 10, the board met to discuss the results of those interviews. Monday, after further discussion, the school board chose Kovert Hawkins, Jeffersonville, to help show a need for a project.
Despite Jefferson being over ideal capacity, Duncan said, "Our parents, as a group, are very supportive and loyal to our school. Several have expressed a concern about the class sizes. With the building being so packed full, there's a hardship for our teachers parents don't know about because our teachers are so creative. They are willing to give up space for each other."
Another factor at Jefferson is its diversity. Duncan said his school has a high percentage of English as a Second Language students. "ESL students by their nature require a lot more individual assistance," he said. Jefferson also has special education classes and "superior" students who present some unique educational needs.
Polston said when Harrison and Eisenhower schools were built in 1991, Harrison's capacity was put at 620 children. Harrison surpassed that last year. With Harrison's student count hovering around 698, having hit 702 on the second day of school, "that's an all-time high," Polston said. While Eisenhower's target capacity is 700, its enrollment is 608 students, 86.9 percent.
To deal with the student population, Polston said he worked with Superintendent Dr. Robert Haworth. Haworth provided Harrison with another full-time first-grade teacher and a half-time kindergarten teacher. Harrison now has five kindergarten, five first-grade and five second-grade sections. The fifth section of kindergarten starts classes Monday and parents are being notified of the change. Fifth grade has only 75 students so they have three sections. They have been able to use every classroom in the building, and every class has student numbers in the 20s. No classes have 30 students, but the four sections of sixth grade have about 25 students each.
"I'm feeling good as of right now, today," Polston said. He gave a lot of the credit for making the situation work to the teachers. "The teachers have been fantastic."
Besides classroom space, Harrison also has to deal with lack of space in the cafeteria. While it's not as small as Leesburg's cafeteria, Polston said it's too small to handle 700 kids. They came up with creative solutions, having some students read or play while others are eating lunch.
"It's been neat to see the growth of Harrison and see how all the parents, teachers, staff and students have come together to be one big family," Polston said.
Polston said that while Harrison picked up some Atwood school children when Atwood Elementary was closed, Harrison really wasn't affected by the closure of the three schools. Harrison, he said, was affected by all the construction and the orthopedic companies bringing families into the area.
Also, while Harrison initially wasn't affected by the growth in ESL students, the school is now seeing an effect from the growth of ESL students.
But wherever the growth comes from, he said it's neat to see the WCS staff, administrators, support staff, parents and teachers come together to meet the challenges head on.
