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Maybe they could lease some decent portables from Columbia County.
Richmond County school officials are blaming an unexpected surge of new pupils for overcrowded conditions at Freedom Park Elementary School, the popular national Blue Ribbon school on Fort Gordon.
"The desks are right up beside each other front, back and sideways," said Amber Jamar, who has two children at Freedom Park. Her second-grader couldn't squeeze through the 42 desks in his classroom without taking off his backpack, she said.
The school has been adding a grade level each year and is now a K-8 school, a move Mrs. Jamar welcomes, but she said the facility is inadequate to handle the expansion.
Principal Rita Bradley said the largest class has 32 or 33 children.
The school expected a larger enrollment this August because of the addition of the eighth-grade class and an anticipated surge in kindergarten, Mrs. Bradley said. But the school also recorded unexpected increases in other grades.
"We did some projections this year, but our numbers weren't even close to accurate," she said.
Public Information Director Louis Svehla said there were 599 pupils a year ago and 839 this year. There's no way to anticipate such large growth, he said.
As a result, six classes are being taught in three classrooms, Mrs. Bradley said. In these classrooms, there are two certified teachers working side by side.
Plans don't call for constructing permanent classroom space for a couple of years. In the meantime, portable classrooms will be used.
"We have classroom space, just not on post," said Benton Starks, the director of maintenance and facilities.
In May, school officials realized Freedom Park wouldn't be able to adequately house all of its pupils, so they began the lengthy task of finding, moving, installing and repairing trailers, he said. Schoolchildren should be in their new temporary classrooms by the end of next week.
"We can get them in there sooner, but I promised the parents I talked to they would be the best portables they can be for used portables," Mr. Starks said.
Work crews have been patching holes, installing new windows and running utilities for the seven trailers now on school grounds. Richmond County's portable classrooms that are in the best condition were in use elsewhere.
"A lot of parents have called about the portables," Mr. Starks said, and he is working to address their concerns. "Portables from a factory aren't ideal, but they are meant to be temporary."
The long-term plan calls for adding a middle school wing to Freedom Park, but the design phase isn't scheduled to begin until January, he said. It's one of a list of projects funded by the 1-cent special purpose local option sales tax, and it isn't expected to be complete until 2011.
Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
Maybe they could lease some decent portables from Columbia County.
Good solution, NEone. But, sadly, there is so much envy from RCBOE toward CCBOE. And, sadly, there is so much condescension from CCBOE toward RCBOE. You won't see co-operation on the radar.
Let the RCBOE buy/lease their own temporary class room buildings. Instead of the $27M CC wants to spend on tennis courts and swimming pool, spend that money to do away with all the wooden temporary class rooms they have that make otherwise fine looking schools look like they have scabs on them.
i want to know why are there 8th graders in an elementary sschool period?? they should be building a middle school for the 8th graders not housing them in class rooms like sardines !!! that's crazy.
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Besides all of the problems with the portables that RCBOE claim they are going to fix, the buildings are not aligned with each other and from the road it looks like a 'shanty town.' I'm surprised that Fort Gordon would allow them to be placed that way!
The "Public Information Director Louis Svehla" might say "there's no way to anticipate such large growth," but if "the school has been adding a grade level each year" I'm sure that the RCBOE had an idea of how many more students the new grade would add to this year's population. At least part of the difference between "599 pupils a year ago and 839 this year" should not have been a surprise.
I completely agree with no longer amazed. If you where to take the students that were residents of Fort Gordon and enrolled at Glenn Hills and anticipated that after adding 7th and 8th grade to Freedom Park that those children would obviously start attending Freedom Park, the projection would have been accurate. The real issue is why add a grade that our school is not prepared to handle. We are pushing our little ones aside and outside. Wouldn't it be better logistically to have the older kids outside? I have been told by several of the older kids that they would welcome having some separation from the younger kids. I also think it's important to address that condition of the portables. I have had classes in portables once upon a time and it wasn't an issue because they were in good condition. I think that there are a lot of parents that aren't opposed to the idea of portables on a temporary basis, they are just alarmed at the condition of them. Not only do they beg the question "are they safe" but lets be honest, it's embarrassing to have them on post.
Freedom Park is an "Elementary" school. Where I'm from, this would tell you that it is grades K-5 or MABE K-6. The 6-8 graders need to have their own school. This just is another example of how backwards and behind the times Fort Gordon is with just about every aspect of how this post operates.
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