Hollister
– Overcrowding at Rancho San Justo Middle School has led
Hollister School District officials to look for ways to redivide
the student population between two middle schools.
Hollister – Overcrowding at Rancho San Justo Middle School has led Hollister School District officials to look for ways to redivide the student population between two middle schools.
Rancho San Justo Middle School and Marguerite Maze Middle School are built to serve the same number of students, but the difference in the size of the two student bodies has grown over the past two years. In 2006-07, Rancho had a student population of 1,035 students while Maze had only 931 students. In 2007-08 Rancho’s student body is expected to outnumber Maze by 150 students.
Citing concern that the disparity will continue growing, administrators are trying to remedy the problem.
“Because of the size of Rancho, we need to look at having some students go to Maze,” Superintendent Ron Crates said. “We need to come up with criteria to make a determination (of who will go where) for next year.”
A student’s middle school assignment is determined by his or her home address, said Jesus Romero, administrative assistant to the superintendent. For the most part, Ladd Lane and Cerra Vista feed into Rancho; Gabilan Hills and Calaveras feed into Maze; Sunnyslope divides evenly between the two; and about 80 percent of R.O. Hardin’s student population goes to Rancho, Romero said.
Gabilan Hills is adding a kindergarten through eighth-grade school on its campus in the fall, meaning fewer students could be attending Maze in coming years and the difference could grow even more.
The district is considering changing Cerra Vista so it will feed into Maze Middle School as one possible solution, Crates said. This change would not occur until the 2008-09 school year.
Administrators are seeking other ways to curb the overcrowding and determine student assignments to each middle school. In the analysis, the district will make efforts to not break up families and make sure students already attending Rancho were not transferred to Maze, Crates said.
Board members said it was a priority to ensure there was equality in size between the two schools.
“I think that this is always important,” Board President Alice Flores said. “We don’t want to have 30 kids in a class at Rancho and 25 at Maze.”
Jan Grist, a former Hollister School District Teachers’ Union president and a teacher at Rancho, said the increasing size at Rancho has made teaching and managing students difficult.
“When you have that many children and limited bathroom facilities and everyone passing at the same time, it makes it very difficult,” Grist said. “Nobody wins in an overcrowded school.”
The primary concern with the differential between the two student body sizes is that students at Rancho will suffer, Grist said. She fears students’ safety would be compromised and it would make learning difficult.
In 2002, Rancho had 1,090 students enrolled while Maze had only 849, according the California Department of Education. When it reached that size, students’ safety was threatened because of overcrowding, Grist said.
“I have just one concern, and that’s safety,” Grist said. “You can’t learn in an unsafe environment. It’s not fair to everybody – including the teachers, but especially the students.”
Hollister administrators are planning to focus on the best way to address the problem throughout the year, deciding which way to best reassign the flow from the feeder schools. They’re hoping to have a plan implemented by fall 2008.
