From sports to the education, the school improves and grows- catching parents and students’ eyes makes them interested in coming over here.
Over time, the ratio of students to staff has multiplied, leading to an important question: Is it becoming overcrowded at school?
Katerina Miller, the Certified Athletic Trainer, said that it is ¨overwhelming¨ seeing up tp 70 students a day. She feels that more space would be beneficial.
¨Especially from the athletic side of things, we do not have enough space for how many athletics we currently have,”Miller said. ¨From the weight room and just facilities in general like gym spaces, we always are a little overcrowded on just trying to make sure everyone has a practice space.”
Walt Cochran the AP Us History teacher is someone who sees up to 27 students per block. He is not the kind of person to get overwhelmed by the amount of students due to him coming from teaching at a larger school but said, “But in an AP class with 25 or more, it gets pretty challenging when I’m trying to teach writing.” It’s not overwhelming due to him teaching the same thing 4 times a day. Cochran has noticed in the past 5 years he’s noticed drastic change in our school population.
“Hallways are a lot more crowded. I’m at the end of the building in the 500 hallway, so I don’t see as many students. But when I go to the commons, there are a lot of kids. But there’s probably more room for us to grow. I just feel like the biggest issue here is just sharing space, especially large groups like sport teams, fine arts and theater, we’re all going places and using things at once and there’s not effort space for us.”
Joel Bergmann the Geometric and Consumer Math teacher is someone who sees a range of 26 to 28 students. He isn’t someone who thinks the high school is crowded. Though Bergmann said, “I think the high school is getting close to being overcrowded.”
“I don’t feel overwhelmed teaching that many, but it is more than what we had in the past. I typically get through my lesson, but we do have to abate on how we’re teaching. But I usually get through. My teaching has changed a little bit over the years due to making sure everyone understands what we’re doing, which takes a little bit longer with my bigger classes. I know it is supposedly designed for more students than this, but with having 28 in a lot of classes, that’s kinda pushing the size of the classrooms.”
Derrick Abromeit, the US History, and World History teacher has noticed the population and said,” The high school has gotten bigger in the past year, and it gets bigger every year.” He gets around over 150 students in total on both Blue and White days. Seeing a range of 26 to 27 students he doesn’t feel claustrophobic with amount but he noticed
“There are sometimes where 26 to 27 kids, plus para, plus other support staff — it gets a little overcrowded. I’ve been doing this for 100 years. I always get through my lessons with any number of students,” Abromeit said. “We’ve reaching the point where it’s about to find classrooms for all the teachers, and teachers are going to have to leave their classrooms during their planning period for other teachers to come in and use their rooms as we move forwards. I don’t think we’re at the breaking point, but we’re pretty full.”
For some teachers they teach more than one subject. Deb Osborn is someone who teaches AP European History, Current Social Issues, and Medieval and Renaissance Humanities. She is someone who gets 20 to as high as 30 students in classes. She has said, “I don’t think it’s overpopulated or any classes look overwhelming, at least not that I’m seeing.” Osborn has noticed though.
“In the AP classes, they don’t tend to fill them quite as heavy, cause there’s interaction with the students and grading. I don’t necessarily get overwhelmed. Every once in a while, you get 30 kids in the room and it’s a lot of kids,” Osborn said. “I generally do get through my lessons, but if you have good classroom management, then you get the kids into what you’re teaching, then you’re going to make it through what you’re doing. And as long as you don’t allow them to get disruptive, then I don’t have a problem. I think the population has changed dramatically, but no, I don’t think the high school is overpopulated. But I do think eventually we will need a bit more space,
Another US History teacher as well as the honors government teacher Joe Leiker said, “It’s getting fairly crowded.” As someone who teaches upper classes he has noticed a drastic change in population and diversity among the students. Leiker is someone who sees nearly over 30 students an hour. He’s been noticing small challenges teaching that many students from, grading and navigating through the room. Though those might be a problem he still loves his job and the kids he encounters.
“It is certainly a challenge teaching such a large number, but there are some positives. It generates discussion and participation easier just because of the number. But I do start to run out of room, plus, grading becomes a hassle,” Leiker said.”I usually get through my lessons. There are times I don’t because of schedules, or even on a normal day, sometimes it takes longer because different groups have more questions than others. But I’ve been doing this for years, so I’m used to it. I haven’t seen a huge change in my class value. The biggest change in my class I’ve noticed throughout the years is the mix or diversity of the students.”
On the science side of things Jerad Gorney is someone who teaches AP Biology, Anatomy, and Physiology. He’s someone who has the same mindset as Osborn. Class management is the most important for big classes. Gorney also said,”If I didn’t have things planned out, I would be super anxious about it.” Just from seeing 22-28 students in a class.
“There are definitely more kids in our hallway, but I don’t think it was ever any more crowded than it was. Especially knowing that a lot of classes are pretty small, we have a little bit of room still for us to grow in our high school,” Gorney said. “We’re starting to run out of spaces we could put kids—like if a kid doesn’t have a class, we’re starting to run out of room to put them in. Eventually, in my opinion, we should add on to our high school and not build a second high school. Do the same thing to this one.”
Elle Prezes a senior who is on varsity tennis, powerlifting, lastly track and field has been in this high school for four years noticing and having first hand experience going to class to playing multiple sports. Elle has said, “certain classes are definitely crowded.” Weights are of her classes that have become jammed packed, but the rest are manageable.
“I feel like lunch can be really crowded, but it depends on the lunch that you’re in; like, some are fine, others it takes most of lunch time to get through the line,” Prezes said. “I will say the main stairwell is packed, but a lot of freshmen and new students don’t know about the back stairwell. For sports, they are very packed. In tennis, we have around 60 girls on our team, with us only having 8 courts. Powerlifting is always crowded, and with other seasons lifting during their off-season, the track is probably the least crowded in the throwers area but is still pretty packed.”
