By Jonathan Cronin
Since the overwhelming defeat in March 2000 of the $85 million bond that would have renovated all buildings in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District and built a new middle school, the district has been making arrangements to deal with that school's overcrowding.
In the 2001-2002 school year, the middle school will grow from its current 781 students to 840, according to a draft of the Ad Hoc Middle School Facilities Committee's recommendation. To maintain the current maximum class size of 25, three additional classrooms will be needed. To maintain that class size this year, the district converted a computer room into a classroom, then distributed the computers throughout the school. Next year, the only existing computer lab and the library/media center will be turned into classroom space, leaving a decision to be made as to how to make up for the loss of the library/media center.
From 2002 to 2004, enrollment at the middle school is projected to increase to 878. Additional classrooms and locker space that will be needed are not available, school officials said. Class size will have to increase to more than 28 students.
Richard Houseman, a parent of two elementary-school children in the district, spoke at a recent school-board meeting about middle-school issues that he said many parents had concerns about, including increased class size, loss of the library/media center and lack of a new building.
Houseman said he knew about 30 to 40 parents with kids 13 years old and under who have been talking about the middle-school situation at sports practices and when picking up children at school.
"How many kids will be put into each classroom?" he asked, adding that parents he speaks with agree that 27-32 students in a classroom would be a significant change.
He also said the consensus among parents is that the middle school ultimately "needs to be replaced. If not now, in five years. Renovations won't be that feasible."
He said many parents are concerned about the library being turned into three classrooms while the library is moved into a portable classroom.
At a recent meeting, the school board announced that Dr. Karen Chapman, assistant superintendent of business, is looking into the district paying for e-books to compensate for the loss of the library space. E-books are texts that can be viewed on the Internet. Chapman said that an e-book's Web site can do many things, such as create a profile of what students are studying. She said that students only have to type in their grade and what they are studying, and the site would do the rest.
