Meridian Students Get a Break From Crowded Classrooms
By Bill Roberts, The Idaho Statesman, Boise
Aug. 28–Meridian School District started classes Monday with something kids haven’t seen in a long time: breathing room.
Nowhere is that more evident than at Hunter Elementary School on McMillan Road in north Meridian. The school lost nearly 250 of last year’s 830 students to the new Paramount Elementary, which opened nearby Monday.
Paramount was built as part of a $140 million bond passed by voters in 2005 to ease school overcrowding. It opened full, with nearly 700 students.
“I’m giddy,” said Julia Brown, the parent of a Hunter student. She remembers how the previously overcrowded school herded kids into the lunchroom every day for a quick bite.
“It was a little like a cattle drive,” she said.
Meridian School District’s first-day enrollment was 33,122 students, up 1,558 from last year.
Meridian is the largest school district in Idaho and is growing each year by up to 2,000 students. It opened three new schools Monday: Paramount, Heritage Middle School and Galileo Math and Science Magnet School.
While Hunter finally got some breathing room, not all schools in the district are feeling ample space.
Lake Hazel Elementary School, south of Interstate 84, opened Monday with about 670 students in a school built to hold about 500.
Principal Penny Andrew worried that the large numbers would force her to close down the school’s orchestra program because there was no place to practice.
But she squeezed it into a second-grade classroom when the second-graders are at lunch.
Lake Hazel could see a few less students next fall, when the Meridian district opens a planned new school in Tuscany subdivision near Victory and Eagle roads.
On the north side of the freeway, Heritage and Sawtooth middle schools, like Hunter, have more space than students this year. Heritage opened this year to cut the enrollment at Sawtooth. Both schools, built for 1,000 students, now have about 800 students.
Sawtooth was so crowded last year, with nearly 1,400 kids, “it took you five minutes to get from one hall to the other,” said Savannah Stover, 12, who is now at Heritage.
A reduced student population at Hunter means the school can use its science lab for the first time since the school opened in 2005. In previous years the room held overflow classes.
“Being able to have a science lab is huge,” said Laura Otto, a third-grade teacher whose room is next to the lab.
Instead of moving classroom desks around and running electrical cords across the floor for lights to use with microscopes, teachers can set up experiments in a room designed for them, Otto said.
“You are ready to go right away,” she said.
Despite fewer students at some schools, many class sizes remain high. Hunter has two fifth-grade classrooms with 40 students. District officials say they may consider hiring additional teachers to reduce the load.
Bill Roberts: 377-6408
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