CLEVELAND, Tenn. – An initial surge in enrollment at some elementary schools has Cleveland City Schools scrambling to hire more teachers.
Attendance increased 16 percent at Stuart Elementary, 12 percent at Ross Elementary and 9 percent at Blythe-Bower, year-over-year, records show.
“I have never seen in my career here a bubble like that in elementary school,” said Dr. Rick Denning, director of schools. “We’ve got some serious issues to deal with.”
The school board approved the hiring of two kindergarten teachers, one first-grade teacher and one fifth-grade teacher at Stuart Elementary, but more are needed, Denning said.
That would mean new furniture and four additional classrooms, but only three are available, he said. The plan is to move teachers into the Stuart art room, the music room and the teacher’s lounge, he said.
Stuart principal Randall Stephens said he wasn’t sure what was behind the growth. Last year, he said, the school gained 20 students. This year it has more than 60 new pupils.
“All of our rooms are being used,” he said. “We’re going to have to be creative, for sure.”
Because much of the land surrounding the school belongs to the city, Stephens said there’s not much space left for expansion.
But Stuart isn’t the only school feeling a bit cramped.
Two more teachers at Blythe-Bower and one more at Mayfield Elementary may be needed as well, Denning said.
While state funding for excess students will help, Denning said the system doesn’t plan on receiving any extra stimulus money because no teaching jobs have been cut.
“It’s hard to think we’re going to get money for a problem we didn’t have,” he said. “This kind of increase really took us by surprise.”
Enrollment is typically higher in the fall than the spring, Denning said, adding that the numbers should be fairly stable by Labor Day.
The school board speculated that Stuart’s sharp increase may be because of children coming out of private schools or perhaps a building boom, despite little land in the district for new construction.
“My greatest fear is that one day down the road … all our schools are filled and we are not prepared with a building,” Denning said. “What are we going to do? And where are we going to put them?”
Trailers might be an answer, but Denning said he’s “about as interested in trailers as I am snakes.”
“I hope this is not a foretelling of the future, but I’m afraid it could be,” he said.