ORANGE : Solutions Sought to School Crowding

Facing increasing enrollment at a number of its westside schools, the Orange Unified School District is considering a variety of options to accommodate more students that range from condemning property for construction of new schools to establishing year-round schedules.

This week, principals, administrators and parents are being asked for their input on the plans presented to the Board of Education last week by Skip Roland, the assistant superintendent for elementary school education.

Among the long-term solutions are proposals to shift some schools to a year-round schedule, construct additions or add portable classrooms to some schools, move sixth-graders to a middle school in selected areas, bus students to currently closed sites, redraw district lines and condemn property to build new schools where there is no open land.

Roland said portable classrooms must be added or renovated at eight elementary schools. These include Cambridge, Chapman Hills, Fairhaven, Fletcher, Lampson, Panorama, Sycamore and West Orange elementary schools. Estimated total cost for renovations is close to $500,000, he said but added that the cost could be reduced by moving existing portables from other sites.

Roland said enrollment is growing because of the increasing number of young families moving into the Orange area.