While the Alpine School Board builds four new schools to ease classroom crowding, it's using "Band-Aid solutions" at schools like Meadow Elementary in Lehi before it commits to any more school construction.
Following a recommendation by principal Sonja Rasband, the board approved a plan to switch Meadow's schedule to an extended day - which will place students on two different time "tracks" during the day and possibly increase the school's capacity by 20 percent.Rasband said something had to be done to accommodate recent residential growth within the school's boundaries. The student population at Meadow Elementary has grown by 150 students since the 1993-94 school year. Current estimates show the school housing 877 students next year - 30 percent more than it was built to accommodate.
An informal survey taken by school officials indicated that parents overwhelmingly supported the proposal. Annette Critchett, the school's Parent Teacher Student Association president, said she was happy the board approved the change. But she also thinks the district needs to build another elementary school with remaining proceeds from the $98 million in bonds undertaken for new school construction and renovations.
Critchett, who has two daughters attending Meadow Elementary, said the packed conditions at Meadow, as well as swelling enrollment at Sego Lily Elementary in Lehi, can only be solved with a new school.
Board member Marilyn Kofford, who represents Lehi, said the district needs to continually monitor growth in Lehi and that similar schedule changes may be needed in other Lehi elementaries.
"I think (Rasband) and her staff have done a heck of a job with those new students," Kofford said. "I think we're going to have to be careful with this growth."
Meadow Elementary is the 11th Alpine school to go to an extended-day schedule. Under that schedule student days are divided into two parts. More than three hours of the school day are spent on core subjects like reading, writing, language and math, while the remaining two hours are spent on more specialized subjects, including music, art, science and social studies, according to superintendent Steven Baugh.
Half the students will begin school at 8 a.m. and study core subjects during the first half of the day, followed by the specialized subjects. The other half will start school at 9:30, beginning with specialized subjects and ending with core classes. Most parents will be able to choose which "track" they want their students on, Rasband said.
According to Baugh, students attending extended-day school spend exactly the same amount of time in classes as before. But schools save space by using the staggered class schedule, a well as by having larger class sizes for the specialized subjects.
"We don't just use the extended-day schedule to handle our growth," he said. "There are very real educational reasons to use it."