BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
MASON -- Less than three weeks before Mason Intermediate School is to open its doors, school officials were told they will need another elementary school and more high school classrooms within three years.
Projections presented this week in a demographic study by volunteer Dick Kroc show the student population will top 5,000 for the first time, up from last year's official enrollment of 4,740.
"This is saying that by the beginning of the 2001-2002 school year, we will need to open another building," board member Russ Carter said. "We don't have a whole lot of time to decide what that building will be."
By the end of the day Tuesday, enrollment had hit 5,179, board member Jon Reinhard said. Superintendent Kevin Bright said 411 of those were kindergartners. Just in the past week, 81 new students enrolled, board President David Lenert said. Typically, enrollment has been heaviest from August through Labor Day.
"Look around. There is no slowdown in building," Mr. Kroc said. "I was out Saturday. I counted 51 houses under construction, and that was just in three subdivisions."
Mr. Kroc said there were 545 permits issued for homes in the district between Jan. 1 and July 31. For the past few years, the number of new students has closely mirrored the number of permits, he said.
From 1990 to 1997, enrollment grew 78.6 percent, from 2,653 students to 4,740. Under a medium growth rate, Mr. Kroc said the district would top 8,000 in four years, with an anticipated enrollment of 8,103. The high school is expected to grow from the projected 1,404 this year to almost 2,400 during that same period.
"If we grow by just one more teacher at the high school, that person will be (teaching) on a cart," Mr. Bright said, meaning that every classroom will be in use when school opens Aug. 31.
Mr. Bright said he has already told architects to begin work on three or four options for more classrooms.
