Middle Schools May Get More Crowded

With Conejo Valley middle schools already exceeding the recommended enrollment cap of 1,000 students per campus, district officials have proposed adding even more students to help accommodate the preference of sixth-graders to attend middle school.

The proposal, which would go into effect next school year if approved by the board of the Conejo Valley Unified School District, would mean enrollment at the district’s four middle schools would range from just more than 1,000 students to as many as 1,200, according to projections from officials.

A district task force of administrators, teachers and parents last year recommended limiting middle school enrollment to 1,000 students. They cited studies that showed less-crowded schools elicit better behavior and more involvement in extracurricular activities.

But the district has a high demand from parents who want to send their sixth-graders to middle school, not elementary school, a choice the district has offered since 1994. This year, more than two-thirds of the district’s sixth-graders chose middle school, but the district had space for only 60%.

Board members are considering a fifth middle school, but they don’t have certain funding or locations for it.

Officials say the increased enrollment would probably meet most of the demand for at least one year, and perhaps as many as three years. New portable classrooms would create space for 216 additional sixth-graders at Colina, Redwood and Sequoia middle schools. Los Cerritos Middle School would not add more sixth-graders because it already is at capacity.

If parents continue to want to send their sixth-graders to middle school, the board is going to have to decide to either build a fifth middle school or convert another school, assistant Supt. Richard Simpson said.