ENROLLMENT FOR 2014, CAPACITIES, PORTABLES, TOTAL CAPACITY, OVER/UNDER NUMBERS:

Junior High School:    (2/27/14) # Students   Design Capacity   Portables   Total Capacity   Over/Under Capacity

Beck JH (BJH) (VI) (0)                          1,109              1,232                   6              1,592                  -483             

Beckendorff JH (BDJH) (X) (7)            1,679              1,403                   7              1,823                  -144

Cardiff JH (CJH) (XI)  (0)                      1,019               1,403                   0             1,403                  -384

Cinco Ranch JH (CRJH) (VIII) (3)        1,235               1,400                   3             1,580                  -384

Katy JH (KJH) (I)  (13)                          1,348               1,231                 13             2,011                  -663   

Mayde Creek JH (MCJH) (III) (4)         1,134               1,414                   4             1,654                  -520

McDonald JH (MDJH) (V)   (6)                997               1,220                   6             1,580                  -583

 McMeans JH (MMJH) (VII)   (2)            1,093               1,400                   2             1,520                  -427

Memorial Pkwy JH (MPJH) (IV) (4)       885               1,133                   4              1,373                 -488

Morton Ranch JH (MRJH) (IX)  (4)      1,261               1,403                   4             1,643                 -382

Seven Lakes JH  (SLJH)  (XIII)  (3)     1562                1,400                   8             1,880                 -318

West Memorial JH (WMJH) (II) (1)        717                   998                   1             1,058                  -341

WoodCreek JH (WCJH) (XII)    (11)    1,624                1,403                 17             2,423                - 799

TOTALS:                                            15,663               17,040                 75          21,540               -5,877

Drawing conclusions from the numbers...

There are 75 portables (up from 49 portables in 2011 just three years ago) located at the junior high schools. 

Seventy-five portables actually extend the capacity of the junior highs from 17,040 to 21,540 as each of the portables contains two classrooms that hold 30 students each. They are built to hold 35 or 70 total, but we'll settle for 60.

Using the District's numbers, they are 5,877 places UNDER DESIGN CAPACITY.  If the District has other uses for these schools, there is ample room to accommodate special education or other programs to satisfy their nebulous "functional capacity" needs.

Obviously parents don't want their children schooled in a portable or being rezoned, but when moving into a "fast growth district" where the superintendent, the school board members, and the demographers can't gauge the growth accurately,  they should not expect anything else!

Rezoning could take care of needs for a year or two, and it seems unwise to cram so many students into four of the schools when the other nine of  them are under utilized. Is there perhaps an ulterior motive?  Did the administration crowd the junior high schools in the east end of the district so that parents of those students stuffed into a junior high would vote for their bond?  A case could be made that they did--especially when there is room all around to accommodate the overcrowding.

What's happening is that the District would rather stick the taxpayers with debt for new schools than to endure the wrath of the voters if they rezone! As a group they are not strong enough to do what is right.

When the school district does not count the portables in the total capacity numbers for a school, they are misleading the public about the actual capacity of a school.  The prospect of purchasing many more   portables is part of every bond referendum.  Portables are used at almost every school in the District.  Some of them are just stock-piled and not used, but they ARE available. If the public is paying for them, and the District keeps asking for them to be included in the bond proposal, which they have done again this year, and they keep buying them, then they should be counted as adding to the capacity of the schools.

People who don't want their children to attend class in a portable should move to the east side of the district!  Remember, students can learn just the same in a portable.  It's just being snooty to act like they can't.