Expanding The Numbers; Overcrowding in Castle View –

HARRISON SEDMAK, CODI DAVIS and KEILA KUNTZ –  

It is not shocking news that the hallways are significantly filled up this year. In our tenth year as a school, the size of the student body has gone from 1,945 to a whopping 2,058. The lunch lines and parking spots are packed, and there is no telling what the result will be; not only have we have met our full capacity of 1700, we are exceeding it.

When asked why this is the case, principal Dr. Calhoun said: “Normally, the number goes up by 80-90 people. It’s huge this year. It’s attributed to lots of different factors, one being the bubbles in classes where there are a few more than what is in the last class.”

According to him, Castle View draws in students from a wide area.

“We have a lot of people who want to go to this school outside of our attendance area. They came here because it’s more modern; the curriculum is different and they want to be a part of that,” said Calhoun.

The numbers continue to rise every year, leaving less and less space within school walls.

“And anyone can see that the Meadows is still growing. We are required to let in everybody who lives inside our attendance area,” said Calhoun. “This is the first time in the history of the school that we have had to say no to students outside of our district. This year, there are about 80 students on the waiting list to get in; next year there will be about 100 more.”

With so many houses being built, the area being expanded, and families moving in, the school will have to improvise to fit the demands. “We may be putting in a temporary parking lot; right between the tennis courts and senior parking lot, where the grass is. It will be gravel because it’s only temporary,” said Calhoun. “However small it is, it makes a little bit of difference.”

In the next few years, the administration is trying to build an additional wing, which means more space. Calhoun said, “we are trying to build another wing for classes; it would raise our capacity to 2,700 as a two-story building.”

More classrooms leads to better student-to-teacher ratios, which engages students in a smaller class size. “I think where you really see it is in your classrooms and each classroom has 30 to 40 students in it. We are supposed to have classes under thirty but it’s really hard to balance them that way.” said Calhoun.

Being directly involved in the circumstances, fellow students have an opinion about the situation as well. “There are too many students per classroom. In my Calculus class we have like 35 students which is too many for a good learning environment,” said Nikki Apostolopoulos ‘16.

A crowded learning environment calls for distraction and an inability to work efficiently. With so many students, the school continues to expand and pack the hallways.

“There’s too many people in the halls at lunch, and the gym during assemblies.” said Erin Kraus ‘18. “The lines for lunch are really long because there are so many people trying to get food. One time I timed it and it took about 30 minutes just to get food. It’s worse this year cause the senior class was a lot smaller than the freshman class this year,”

There is no doubt that our school is growing, we will just have to wait and see what is in store for our sabercat home.