Stuttgart schools, parents talk about enrollment problem

[unhappycamper]

Riki Johnston, a language arts instructor, teaches to a classroom full of students at Patch High School, where insufficient space is increasingly becoming a problem. Three teachers are without classrooms of their own and 17 other teachers share rooms.


Stuttgart schools, parents talk about enrollment problem
By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, February 9, 2009

STUTTGART, Germany — In a perfect world, the infrastructure is already in place before the people come.

But in Stuttgart, where the population has swelled in the past year from 17,000 to 21,000, that hasn’t been the case as more and more students cram into increasingly cramped classrooms.

Now, with another influx of students expected at Patch High School next year, educators and garrison officials are looking for ways to make room.

On Wednesday evening, parents at Patch Elementary School heard from school and garrison leaders about a range of options to deal with an anticipated jump in enrollment next school year, which could send Patch fifth-graders 10 miles up the road to Robinson Elementary Middle School.

"We can’t build a new school out of thin air," said garrison commander Col. Richard M. Pastore Jr. as he discussed Stuttgart’s growing pains.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60588