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CLEAR Temp: 64 °F Wind: SSW at 3 mph Friday, September 20, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 10, 2002 The hallways of Hedrick Middle School are a blur of activity once the doors open at 8:40 every morning. Overcrowding is forcing students to share lockers and teachers to find other spaces � such as the wrestling room � for their classrooms. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Hedrick Middle School has too many kids to adequately serve, yet elementary-school officials want to send more sixth-graders By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Oregon’s largest middle school just got bigger. Bigger even than last year, when the population at Hedrick Middle School was the highest in the state at 1,114 students, according to the Oregon Department of Education. Every morning a stampede of students rumble into the hallways of Hedrick, swelling its ranks to 1,177 and still growing. "They just keep coming and coming and coming," said Principal Marjorie Lininger. "There are just too many young teens in one building." McLoughlin Middle School, ranked fifth-largest in the state last year at 1,076 students, has also grown to 1,129. "We’re certainly packed, too," said McLoughlin Principal Craig Barabash. Lininger said 90 students must now share lockers; the volleyball team has more applicants than spaces; the lines at the cafeteria are longer; and the computer lab is overloaded. "At this rate, we can’t serve every student who is here," she said. "It’s harder to touch them when there are so many children who need our concern." Susan Holt, a health and physical education teacher, found out what it was like to get the only available full-time space on campus for her health class — the wrestling room. Holt contends with 200 students next door in the gym doing jumping jacks or dribbling basketballs. "It’s so loud that my kids can’t hear over it," she said. As a result, she prepares lessons that rely on visual aids until the noise abates. Overcrowding at the middle schools has created a bottleneck at the elementary schools. Bob Hartwig, principal at Abraham Lincoln, would like to send 74 sixth-graders to middle school to alleviate overcrowding at his campus, which was designed for 600 students but now has 624. The middle schools can’t take any more than the 244 sixth-graders they’ve already taken on as part of a pilot project. The remaining 750 sixth-graders are at the elementary schools. Hedrick and McLoughlin are two of only a few middle schools in Oregon that offer instruction mainly in seventh and eighth grades. Budget cuts, which reduced the number of teachers in Medford schools by 10 percent this year, have worsened the problem for Hartwig. "No class in second grade on up, other than one split grade, has less than 31 students," he said. "I have never been a principal at a school where we have had 30 or above." Hartwig is hoping voters pass a $79 million bond measure on Nov. 7, which pays for a new middle school, skill center and upgrades to the two high schools. Sixth-graders, he said, are developmentally more advanced than the other grades and should be going to the middle schools. "I have two sixth-graders shaving and probably a third one by the end of the year," he said. "They belong with a different set of kids." Lininger said that if another middle school were built, there would be about 1,000 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students at each campus. Optimally, educators believe that 800 students is the maximum number for a middle school. But Lininger counters, "Just think what our schools would look like if we don’t build a third middle school." At this point, her seventh- and eighth-grade classes are about 500 students, which is about the same at McLoughlin. By creating a third middle school, each class would be around 300 students, an amount that she feels is more manageable. McLoughlin’s Barabash said many of his core classes now number 30 or more students because of budget cuts. To alleviate the situation, some of Barabash’s teachers have found their assignments changed. "Some people just taught language arts, but they’re now teaching social studies as well. They’re still within their area of accreditation, though." While a new middle school won’t bring in more teachers, Barabash said smaller school sizes would help make a better connection with students. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy webmaster feedback A D V E R T I S E R S