BUENA PARK : Classrooms to Be Added at 4 Schools

To keep up with increasing enrollment, the Buena Park School District will add 16 classrooms at four schools.

The rooms, scheduled to be completed by the beginning of the 1991-’92 school year, will be built at Buena Park Junior High and Gilbert, Mabel L. Pendelton and James A. Whitaker elementary schools.

After several years of decreasing enrollment, the number of children attending Buena Park schools began to increase in the early 1980s. During the past five years, enrollment has steadily risen at a rate of 2% to 3% a year, Supt. Jack Townsend said. About 200 more pupils are attending schools in the district this year than last.

Gilbert school, which is expected to get three classrooms, has been hardest hit, Townsend said. As older homes surrounding the school are replaced by apartment complexes, more children are entering the district, he said. Whitaker school also has had a big increase in nrollment and will get two rooms.

Although Pendleton school, which has an enrollment of 245, is not growing, it will receive five new classrooms. Pupils will be shifted to Pendleton to help relieve the burden on other schools, Townsend said.

Meanwhile, district officials are trying to prepare Buena Park Junior High for the influx. That school, originally an elementary school, will get six classrooms. The district also has hired an architect to begin studying how to redesign the school to meet the changing needs.

Officials estimate that the classrooms will cost more than $1 million to construct. Money will come from a reserve fund established when three of the district’s school sites were sold off in the 1970s during declining enrollment.

In addition to the new classrooms, Townsend said as many as six new teaching jobs will be established. Afternoon kindergarten classes also are planned.