School Board OKs Stopgap Solutions to the Crowding

A series of short-term solutions to minimize severe crowding in several Southeast and Mid-City elementary schools received final approval from San Diego city schools trustees Tuesday, but the actions left neither the board nor the community satisfied.

“These are Band-Aid approaches to buy us another year” to attempt more long-range solutions, Trustee Jim Roache acknowledged during lively discussion with parents and teachers from several of the affected schools.

Teacher Cynthia Challberg-Hale of Sherman Elementary--one of the district’s most crowded schools--told Roache that the patchwork approach is not good for education, but Roache replied, “We have no choice--it’s either a Band-Aid or we bleed to death.”

The short-term actions will cost the district close to $4 million to implement. They include:

* Busing sixth-grade students from Sherman, Brooklyn and Balboa elementaries beginning in September to MacDowell Elementary in Clairemont, a school closed several years ago because of low enrollment in the North City area.

* Busing fifth-grade students from Edison Elementary in Mid-City to Carson Elementary in Linda Vista, beginning later this month.

* Putting new portable classrooms at Kennedy and Logan elementaries to cope with enrollment growth and allow the schools to avoid being placed on multi-track year-round schedules. The board last week revamped a 2-year-old policy and voted not to use multi-track schedules as its major long-range solution for future crowding, despite the lack of funds available to build permanent facilities.

* Building 25 new portables, in addition to moving 32 others around the district to juggle capacities at various schools. But the board decided to spend only from its property-management and developer-fee budgets for the construction, and not take from general funds as anticipated last week. Schools Supt. Tom Payzant said an estimated $3.6-million general-fund budget deficit tentatively projected for next year could grow by the end of the spring. If the board used general-fund money to build portables, it might be forced by summer to cut some educational programs to cover potential budget deficits.

* Changing attendance boundaries between Morse and Lincoln high schools to put more students into Lincoln and relieve Morse.

During the next month, trustees will consider several suggested long-range solutions. Scenarios for solving crowding permanently in areas of Southeast and Mid-City could cost as much as $50 million, given the need for one or more new schools and for substantial additions to many others.