Overcrowding Plagues New School Year

Julissa Duran, Staff Reporter

 

On August 10, LEE High School opened its doors for the 2022-2023 school year bringing in a rush of students, and overcrowded classrooms. 

 

Within the first few days many teachers found themselves with 35-45 students in classrooms meant to hold only 30. Many began to worry about how it would affect work division during group assignments, safety, and student behavior. 

 

“(It’s) not the most optimal way of doing a lab.” said one teacher when asked about the issue. “They (students) won’t have an opportunity to get hands on.”

 

Art teacher, Ms. Jordan Diggs, faced spacing issues during the first week, and had to come up with a short-term impromptu seating plan while waiting for students to switch to other classes. 

 

“I ran out of space so ended up having to line up chairs in the back for students to sit,” Ms. Diggs said. “It was hard to move around and even now I only have so much space.”

 

Ms.Diggs expressed concern over safety as well when discussing the difficulty she had moving around her room. 

 

“It’s a safety issue too, if there’s a shooter and I’m on the other side of the room, how am I supposed to get to the door?”

    

While counselors were working to balance class sizes, some teachers resorted to urging students to either switch class periods or move to smaller classes in hopes of bringing numbers down. Those with packed eighth periods suggested seniors use it as an opportunity to get early release.

    

The number of students in the classrooms have gone down since the first day, and many classes will be dealing with changes in numbers until schedule changes close next Friday, August 26.