Student Surge Jams Schools in Inglewood

The Inglewood school district, like many others throughout the state, is suffering from an enrollment boom that is straining school facilities and forcing board members to consider controversial solutions.

The district’s enrollment of about 15,800 students could rise by 300 to 400 in the fall, school officials predicted, making campuses even more crowded.

School officials said they have had to convert specialty rooms such as libraries into makeshift classrooms and have brought so many portable classrooms onto some campuses that playgrounds are jammed. The crush of extra students creates what school board member Zyra McCloud called a “sardine-like environment,” crowding cafeterias, hallways, bathrooms and even, at times, the principal’s office.

“It’s been shown that if you put a whole bunch of rats in a cage, they become very stressed,” said Dan Dallape, a fifth-grade teacher at Oak Street Elementary School, which has about 10 temporary classrooms on its campus. “It’s the same with kids. . . . You can only put so many kids in a limited space. A school of 300 has (a certain percentage of) behavior problems, but if you have 900 students in the same space, it gets a lot worse.”

The city’s elementary enrollment rose so much in 1985 that administrators opened an emergency school at a local church hall for 106 kindergarten and first-grade pupils.

The following year, one crowded elementary school adopted a year-round schedule to maximize classroom space, and two more schools did the same thing soon afterward.

Waves of Students

Since then, school officials have placed dozens of temporary classrooms on school playgrounds to absorb the steady waves of new students.

But, school administrators say, certain Inglewood neighborhoods are continuing to grow, as development of moderately priced apartments and condominiums increases.

George McKenna, who took over as superintendent of the district last fall, has ranked overcrowding among his top four priorities, along with improved education, campus security and a balanced school budget.

“Inglewood will continue to experience growth into the 21st Century,” McKenna said, “and we have to find a place to house all the students.”

Only a Stopgap

The district has received approval from the state for a third high school, which is expected to greatly relieve crowding at Inglewood and Morningside high schools when it is built in the next several years. But, district officials say, the influx of young families has put the most strain at the elementary level.

School trustees have already agreed to install portable classrooms at several elementary school sites to create space for an additional 180 students this fall. They acknowledge, however, that the temporary units, which rent for $300 to $400 per month, are only a stopgap.

“Inglewood is one of our best customers, and they probably will be for a while,” said George Jenkins, who heads Action Mobile Office Rentals Inc., a Carson-based firm that rents more than 500 trailers to school districts from Bakersfield to San Diego. “School overcrowding is bad. The trailers are in heavy use across the state. What else are (school officials) going to do, put the kids out on the street?”