When Huff Lane Elementary closed two years ago, almost 200 students total came over to Round Hill Elementary. That prompted school officials to bring in three modular units with three classrooms each to accommodate the new students.
When Round Hill Elementary saw an unexpected jump of an additional 100 students at the beginning of the school year, that was a surprise no one, not even Superintendent Rita Bishop saw coming either,
"I've been in the business a long time I have never seen anything quite like that one."
Plans to expand the school are well in the works. On Monday, City Schools held a public forum to show off the $8.8 million plan to expand the school.
Currently, the "gym" is in a trailer, and twenty-seven different groups have to fit inside a cafeteria that seats around 100.
"You can't feed 600 kids in a cafeteria that was woefully inadequate for 300," said Bishop.
Bishop hopes expansion will happen in three phases over the next three summers (2013-2015).
Next summer comes the expanded cafeteria and library. In 2014, around 25 classrooms will be added, and in 2015, there will be some changes to the office and front of the building.
Over the past few months, some residents at Huff Lane have resisted a developers bid to build hotels and bring commercial shopping and a restaurant to the area.
Bishop says overcrowding in classrooms isn't an issue at Round Hill and that learning conditions are still ripe for students.
