teach1st
08-17-2005, 05:00 AM
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050817/NEWS0104/508170462/1075
It's not a novel idea to build one mega-school instead of two regular-sized schools. +Larger facilities can double enrollment while chopping a school district's land needs in half.
Also in the plus column: school districts need to construct just one cafeteria, one media center, one gymnasium and one auditorium, thus saving money.
But there are some big minuses, some of which are readily apparent just a two-hour drive from Fort Myers.
In Miami-Dade County, school traffic poses the worst problems, essentially twice as bad as in Lee County. Buses and cars clog streets surrounding the large schools, forcing neighbors to plan their commutes around school bell times.
"Today when I left for work, I had to leave a half-hour early," said Adria Estevez, who lives across the street from the 3,780-student Miami Killian Senior High. "It was bumper to bumper. I couldn't get out of the driveway."
Bigger facilities would draw students from a larger area, but that creates a problem Lee is trying to rid itself of already.
"Whenever they build that large school, you won't have enough students living right around it," said east Fort Myers resident Frank Love. "You'll have to bus them all."
At larger schools, especially middle and high schools, students can get lost in the herd, feeling like a number. That's one of Lee Superintendent James Browder's big concerns with big schools.
"It limits the personal touch, and that's one of our greatest assets," he said.
Bonita Elementary, a small school with just 384 students last fall, echoed those thoughts. Principal David Short says that by the end of the school year, he knows every child and most of their families.
Read more (http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050817/NEWS0104/508170462/1075)
It's not a novel idea to build one mega-school instead of two regular-sized schools. +Larger facilities can double enrollment while chopping a school district's land needs in half.
Also in the plus column: school districts need to construct just one cafeteria, one media center, one gymnasium and one auditorium, thus saving money.
But there are some big minuses, some of which are readily apparent just a two-hour drive from Fort Myers.
In Miami-Dade County, school traffic poses the worst problems, essentially twice as bad as in Lee County. Buses and cars clog streets surrounding the large schools, forcing neighbors to plan their commutes around school bell times.
"Today when I left for work, I had to leave a half-hour early," said Adria Estevez, who lives across the street from the 3,780-student Miami Killian Senior High. "It was bumper to bumper. I couldn't get out of the driveway."
Bigger facilities would draw students from a larger area, but that creates a problem Lee is trying to rid itself of already.
"Whenever they build that large school, you won't have enough students living right around it," said east Fort Myers resident Frank Love. "You'll have to bus them all."
At larger schools, especially middle and high schools, students can get lost in the herd, feeling like a number. That's one of Lee Superintendent James Browder's big concerns with big schools.
"It limits the personal touch, and that's one of our greatest assets," he said.
Bonita Elementary, a small school with just 384 students last fall, echoed those thoughts. Principal David Short says that by the end of the school year, he knows every child and most of their families.
Read more (http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050817/NEWS0104/508170462/1075)