School Building Needs Are Termed 'urgent'

The "urgent and unavoidable" building needs of the Ann Arbor School District over the next five years were catalogued last night by School Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. at the Board of Education meeting. A decisión not to change over to the "middle school" concept in the near future also was revealed last night. Westerman emphasized that the school district is definitely in a "crisis" situation now in the area of space and building needs. Crowding in the junior-high buildings will not be alleviated until 1973-74, he said, when a sixth junior high school on the Pioneer High School site is hoped to be ready for occupancy. This junior high will be part of the five-part bonding issue on the June 8 ballot. When the sixth junior high opens, it will be the first time in 15 years the junior highs will not be accommodating more than the 950 children each they were built for, he said. Even in the fall of 1972, when the fifth junior high now under construction at Nixon and Bluett Rds. is expected to be opened, the junior highs will still be overcrowded with an average enrollment of 1,026 and a total of 15 portable classrooms will be needed, according to Westerman. On the senior-high level, Westerman reiterated his prediction of last week that split shifts will probably be needed in the 1973-74 school year at both Pioneer and Huron High schools; even if the third senior high is approved by the voters this June. Pioneer High is already overcrowded this year, he said, with an enrollment of 2,320. (The school was built for 2,250.) By 1971-72, both high schools will be overcrowded, with 1,821 students expected at Huron and 2,667 expected at Pioneer. (Huron is built for a maximum of 1,800 pupils.) By the 1972-73 school year, Westerman said an overlapping schedule is "likely," meaning some students would perhaps begin school at 8 a.m., others at 9 a.m. There would also be different dismissal times. Westerman said the third senior high, to be built at the intersection of M-15 and Maple Rds. on the city's northwest side, will be the largest of the three high schools, and is expected to be built as a "school within a school," that is, four "houses" each serving 600 pupils, for a total of 2,400 students. Westerman said his enrollment projection and space needs are "cautious" estimates, based on population figures. "Our needs are very clear. They are very urgent and unavoidable," he said. Several of the items in the upcoming bonding issue have been defeated by the public in the past few years at least once. Money for the third senior high, for example, which was orginally scheduled to have been opened by 1971-72, was turned down by the voters in January of 1968. On the elementary level, Westerman said enrollment projections predict a need for 564 classrooms by 1980, as compared with 477 now being used in the 1969-70 school year. This year, there are 11,662 elementary pupils, A total of 13,822 is expected by 1980. The "middle school" concept recommends reorganizing the schools from the present kindergarten through sixth, seventh through ninth and lOth , through 12üi grades to a K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 program. One rationale for the change is that the latter grouping is more realistic for the educational and emotional needs of the students. Westerman said he is convinced the middle school concept "does carry the prospect of an improved educational program." But he said the switch would cost the district an estimated $10 million - an investment he considers "exeessive" when some of the same advantagesofthe middle school can be gained within the present organizational structure. The $10 million is the partial, estimated cost of a fourth senior high school, tentativeïy planned for the Mitchell-Scarlett area. Under the present structure, a fourth senior high will not be needed until the . ly 1980s. Under the middle school plan, it would be needed b y 1975, Westerman said, because of the increase in the number of senior high students. Although fewer elementary j schools and sites would be needed under the middle school plan, it still would average out to an additional cost of $10 million, he said.