Wilbur Cross High School has become so popular that students flood the stairwells and the bathrooms are running out of soap.
So said Laura Clampitt (at right in photo), a senior at Cross, as students and parents gathered a school board meeting Monday night to ask for relief from overcrowding.
Clampitt, who’s the president of Cross’s student council, said overcrowding has drained school resources, including soap and toilet paper. She said the matter is of special concern these days, given that washing hands is key to preventing the spread of swine flu.
The crunch is tightest in the cafeteria, and between classes, when crowds swell in the corridors.
“As soon as you walk into the hallway, there’s a mass of students,” she said.
Parents from the Wilbur Cross PTO amplified Clampitt’s concerns by showing up in numbers Monday, creating what one board member described as the most packed crowd all year.
Cathy Meyerson (at right in photo), vice president of the PTO, said the group decided to make its case before the school board after years of discussing the issue. She said there are not enough supplies in the school to go around, and more students keep arriving.
“Every aspect of the school is stressed,” she said. The concern has peaked over the past six months, she said, culminating in a recent meeting with school system’s director of high school instruction. Parents said they’ve been pressing, to no avail, for a definition of the school’s maximum capacity. Meyerson and two other parents relayed their concerns to the board during a public hearing session before the board.
Cheryl Bergman (at center in photo) said over the last four years, she’s watched the student body grow “exponentially.”
The trend towards overcrowding is “threatening” students’ education, she warned.
Schools Superintendent Reggie Mayo responded that “we’re aware” of the overcrowding. Citywide construction projects, combined with the school’s popularity, have swelled the ranks of Cross students over the past couple years, he said.
Cross is the biggest school in the system, with 1,385 students currently enrolled. Mayo said that enrollment has dropped by 200 since last year.
Relief will soon be on the way once construction projects are complete, he pledged: New Haven Academy is due to grow from 200 to 300 – 350 students at its new home; Metropolitan Business Academy is growing from 150 to 400; and Coop High is due to grow from 450 to 650.
The increase in capacity at the other schools should take the squeeze off of Cross, Mayo said. Some relief should happen this fall; and by September 2010, “we’ll all be breathing easier.”
Parents weren’t quite breathing easier yet.
“The school is in crisis,” said Meyerson, yet non-special needs students don’t have a single social worker to help them at school. The parents asked Mayo for more resources.
“We probably could use another 50 social workers,” replied Mayo. He said he didn’t know the current numbers, but “we do better than most urban districts in terms of resources.”
Allan Visochek (pictured), a junior at Cross, praised the school for “a variety of programs not found anywhere else,” including a high-caliber honors track. He also said that when the crowds pour into the corridors, he has trouble getting from one side of the hall to the other to get to class.
The exchange ended with board members praising the student-parent collaboration, and Mayo pledging to meet with the parents.
“I agree with them 100 percent,” said Mayo after the meeting. “I know it’s overcrowded, and it has been overcrowded for a couple years.”
“Next year will be better,” he said.