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Growing pains get worse at Durant High

Something must be done to ease crowding, a school official says. Options may include an expansion or double sessions.

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published November 18, 2005

There's bad news and then more bad news, Steve Ayers told a gathering of parents, teachers and students at Durant High School last week.

The bad news: Durant is at 115 percent of its capacity, over by 365 students, said Ayers, the school district's attendance zone architect. Next year, he said, it will probably be the most overcrowded high school in the county.

More bad news: The overcrowding problem can only get worse.

More development is coming, Ayers said.

"If there's a bare piece of property and you stand still too long, they'll pour a foundation on you and start to frame you up," he said.

For now, he said, "the school appears to be functioning very smoothly." Four portable buildings - there will soon be six - ease the overflow. Teachers and students are making the most of large classes, he said. And the school was designed with a lot of extra space, so it doesn't feel cramped.

But something will have to be done soon.

He laid out the options: double sessions, realigning district boundaries, expanding the school building or building a new school.

His audience wasn't sure liked any of those ideas. Maureen Carney, a parent, asked whether things could just continue the way they have been.

Sure, Ayers said. But only at the cost of $30,000 per year for each portable unit. And that solution is hardly permanent.

Amid hisses and groans, Carney said she wouldn't be opposed to double sessions.

"I know it rankles people," she said. But at least that would allow children in the area to continue to go to Durant rather than having to choose another school, she said.

"People would like to be at their neighborhood school," she said.

But Eileen McDougall, another parent, objected.

"It would change the whole atmosphere of being in high school," she said.

After an hour of discussion, it became clear that there would be no easy answers.

When teacher Ruth-Ann Foster asked how much the school needed to reduce its student numbers by in order to avoid redistricting or double sessions, Ayers could not answer her.

"You're looking for a magic number that's going to solve your problems for you, and there isn't one," he said. "What there is is crowding that's going to get worse."

- S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 662-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 17, 2005, 08:14:05]