Sunday, October 05, 2008
Editorial: Franklin schools are packing them in
Overcrowding shouldn't shock anyone. Officials must soon figure out what to do about it.
From the RoundTable blog
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The crowded conditions at Franklin County's middle and high schools should have caught no one by surprise.
According to a facilities study conducted last year, the schools began exceeding their capacity seven years ago. Someone should have noticed then and begun planning to either expand or add schools.
That planning never happened.
As a result of that failure, 888 students are stuffed in a middle school designed to hold 615. And Franklin County High School now has more students than any other high school in Western Virginia.
As The Roanoke Times' Janelle Rucker reported last week, the overcrowding is causing problems.
At Benjamin Franklin Middle School's West Hall, classes are being held in meeting rooms, the library and even refurbished broom closets.
At the high school, some students have to be bused to other buildings between classes.
No sense of urgency seems to be infecting either the school board or the county board of supervisors, however.
There has been no joint meeting yet of the two bodies to discuss a way forward, though officials say they are working to schedule a presentation from the school district about the problem.
Officials might want to pick up the pace. School construction is a lengthy and expensive process.
The school board needs to figure out the best solution from several options.
Unfortunately, there seems to be little sentiment for adding a second high school to the county, even though the ideal size for a high school is generally accepted to be around 600 to 900 students, according to education experts, not more than 2,000.
"It's clear the community wants one high school," said Superintendent Charles Lackey, who originally supported a second school but now thinks a single new school is the more palatable option.
Once officials decide what to do, they then must figure out how to pay for it. A replacement school for Franklin County High could cost $75 million.
Where that money might come from in these hard times is anybody's guess.
Whatever county and school officials decide to do, they need to get cracking -- before the walls of Franklin's overcrowded schools start bowing outward from the pressure.
