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Published on 03/09/1998 All articles from this issue

Covington School reopening discussed as LASD enrollment rises

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

The Covington School site could be reopened as an additional elementary school or as a middle school in response to rising enrollments in the Los Altos School District, say members of the Long Range Facilities Planning Committee.

Superintendent Marge Gratiot said projections indicate that about 740 more students, the equivalent of two small schools, will be enrolled in district schools in 10 years. This increase would have a "significant negative impact" on schools if the district does not open a ninth school site, she said. Gratiot said schools are already feeling the strain of the approximately 3,650 students currently enrolled in the district.

Gratiot said many residents have been saying that "The schools are too big the way they are now. Three schools are over 500. There's portables on every site, taking up a lot of playing space that children need."

While the district's architectural consultant investigates the possibility of reopening Covington - which now houses district offices and is leased out to individual groups - the committee is examining three configuration options in relation to the district's newly revised demographic studies released last Monday.

The demographer compiled three studies to show the full spectrum of low, medium and high projections.

The high demographic scenario assumes that district enrollment will continue to grow until 2008, when it reaches 5,093. Under this scenario, the current six-school configuration will have 647 students each and Blach and Egan intermediate schools will have 538 students each.

The medium projection scenario assumes that enrollment will continue to grow until 2008, with student population at 4,389. Under this scenario, the district's six elementary schools would have 562 students and Blach and Egan would each have 507.

The low projection scenario assumes that the district will grow slightly from its current size and stay relatively stable for 10 years.

The demographer said the medium scenario would be the safest to use for planning purposes.

Gratiot said configuration plans include leaving the current configuration unchanged with six elementary schools and two junior highs; reopening Covington as an elementary school; or reopening Covington as a middle school and moving all of the elementary schools' sixth grades to the junior high schools.

Paul Gonella, vice principal at Egan and a committee member, said the committee does not want enrollment at any school to exceed 500 students.

"It's better to have small schools so you can get to know the students," Gonella said.

Gratiot said the committee hopes to have a plan in place by June.

The 40-member committee, which includes one parent representative from each of the district's eight schools, all the school principals, four representatives from the Los Altos Teacher's Association, one chamber member and several other community members, will meet twice a month until the end of spring to listen to the concerns of individual school committees.