Article source for : Overcrowding in some new TPS buildings
Jun 17, 2007 Toledo Blade "story":http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070617/NEWS04/70617001/-1/NEWS
In some cases, the old school buildings will continue to be used along with the new buildings that were suppose to replace the old ones.
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Superintendent John Foley said adjustments to the district’s building program master plan since it began five years ago, coupled with school closings last year, have caused a domino effect of problems. “Previously, designers of the plan have built schools that may fit the projections of 2012, but don’t fit today’s population,” Mr. Foley said.
"It’s certainly going to lead us to some *crowded conditions* and we’ll have to make some adjustments,” he said. “At the end of the day in 2012, *we’ll be fine*, but currently we have some adjustments to make in the process.”
Two years ago, district data predicted there would be just under 31,000 students in the system by 2010 and that the forecast likely would get worse. TPS is already below that number, with 29,400 students enrolled in fall, 2006. Last week, Mr. Foley said district officials expect to be down to 24,000 students in 2012. Just two years ago, the school district was struggling to adapt to more than a decade of enrollment declines, mostly because of the proliferation of charter schools. The publicly funded, privately operated schools lured 6,464 TPS students this year.
Classrooms sat empty in many schools, so buildings were closed and teachers were laid off to cut costs. In the fall, TPS will face the opposite problem. “We’ve got *some schools that are going to be overbuilt* based on our projected losses and gains of students, and we have *some buildings that will be underbuilt*,” Mr. Foley said.
The situation means leaders may have to consider reworking school district boundaries.
Five years ago, the district started an $821 million construction program to replace or renovate every school in the district. Voters approved funding 23 percent of the project, and the state is funding the remaining 77 percent of the cost.
There have been problems in most cities, including Toledo, where construction at the new Leverette Middle School came under review after a partially finished masonry wall collapsed.
Toledo Board of Education member Darlene Fisher, who is often at odds with her fellow members, has for more than a year been calling for a review of the program. “Keeping two buildings open at once, as in the case of Keyser, is going to affect our general [budget] because we weren’t planning on budgeting for the cost of two buildings,” Ms. Fisher said. “I think we knew we were going to have major problems once we knew we couldn’t fulfill the promise of two middle schools in each of the learning communities, she said. “DeVeaux is going to need two schools open for just seven through eight.”
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tag=education
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