A recent excess capacity study revealed schools within the Arcadia learning capacity are swiftly reaching capacity while the Coronado learning community is mostly under capacity.
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A recent excess capacity study revealed schools within the Arcadia learning capacity are swiftly reaching capacity while the Coronado learning community is mostly under capacity.
Dr. Milissa Sackos, assistant superintendent, secondary education, presented the results of the study on the two communities at the Oct. 15 Scottsdale Unified School District Governing Board meeting.
Specifically, the study revealed Arcadia High School is two students shy of program capacity while the sixth through eighth grade portions of Echo Canyon and Tonalea K-8 schools are over capacity.
These studies are part of an ongoing effort to measure excess capacity in the district’s five learning communities prior to a Dec. 1 deadline, per district policy.
“Thank you for all this information,” Governing Board member Barbara Perleberg said after the presentation. “It’s very valuable, I think, for our community, our board and administration to see the whole picture. Even though it’s step by step at each complex, it still gives us a picture that is very valuable.”
The purpose of the studies is to provide the district context for future decisions, including open enrollment, regarding the schools. This allows the superintendent to estimate any reduction to capacity that may be necessary.
Program capacity is the number of students accommodated in each classroom without significant physical alterations. The district defines a standard classroom as 750 square feet.
Rooms less than 750 square feet, used for athletics, office space and libraries, among others, do not factor into the calculations.
To formulate those numbers at an elementary school level, the district multiplied the staffing standard for each grade and the number of sections for each grade. The staffing standard is the ideal class size, rather than a hard cap although the hard cap is not much higher than the standard.
For secondary, district officials multiply the physical capacity by 0.85. The 85% factor accounts for teachers’ preparation periods.
SUSD Superintendent Dr. John Kriekard said the district has worked alongside principals to get an understanding of the results.
Based on the results, Dr. Sackos said reduction of program capacity is a consideration for some schools that have other factors, such as traffic flow or room size.
“There are multiple campuses with mitigating factors that we have to take into consideration when we come back to you prior to that Dec. 1 timeline,” she said.
The district also plans to incorporate climate studies and its conversations with students and parents into its final determinations regarding school capacities.
Arcadia learning community
The study yielded the following results for the Arcadia community as of Sept. 6:
Hopi Elementary School: 96 excess capacity with 702 students attending a school with a program capacity of 798;
Tavan Elementary School: 134 excess capacity with 665 students attending a school with a program capacity of 915;
Echo Canyon (Pre-K through fifth grade): 79 excess capacity with 241 students attending a school with a program capacity of 320;
Echo Canyon (sixth through eighth): 11 over capacity with 179 students attending a school with a program capacity of 168;
Ingleside Middle School: 50 excess capacity with 856 students attending a school with a program capacity of 906; and
Arcadia: 2 excess capacity with 1,866 students attending a school with a program capacity of 1,868.
Arcadia is closed to new students open enrolling, Dr. Sackos said, for this school year. She plans to recommend closure for the next school year as well.
Dr. Kriekard said through the closure, the district hopes to bring down the overall population as students graduate.
“Right now, our commitment to them [Arcadia community] is to bring it back to that level under 1,800, closer to 1,750,” he said. “That’s not a precedent. It’s a school by school situation.”
Dr. Sackos said the numbers for Hopi include flex classrooms that are used for several gifted programs. That might change, she said, since the district is advertising a comprehensive gifted program that would use those spaces, removing them from the capacity counter.
Dr. Sackos said the capacity at Tavan included a part of the campus across the street. Both Tavan and Hopi continue to welcome students but the district is monitoring both schools since not all grade levels have excess capacity.
In regards to Echo Canyon elementary school classes, Dr. Sackos said the rooms are just over 750 square feet, whereas other classrooms tend to reach 800-900 square feet.
This, she said, needs further consideration because a full small classroom may not allow for a variety of teaching methods. For the middle school classes, Dr. Sackos said Echo Canyon is over capacity when the 85% is applied.
Coronado learning community
The study yielded the following results for the Coronado community as of Sept. 6:
Hohokam Elementary School: 383 excess capacity with 367 students attending a school with a program capacity of 750;
Pima Elementary School: 158 excess capacity with 493 students attending a school with a program capacity of 651;
Yavapai Elementary School: 676 excess capacity with 275 students attending a school with a program capacity of 951;
Tonalea (Pre-K through fifth grade): 62 excess capacity with 400 students attending a school with a program capacity of 462;
Tonalea (sixth through eighth): 69 over capacity with 522 students attending a school with a program capacity of 453; and
Coronado High School: 559 excess capacity with 921 students attending a school with a program capacity of 1,480.
Dr. Sackos said the Hohokam program capacity is based on what the renovation will yield once completed.
Tonalea, Dr. Sackos says, is similar to Echo Canyon, adding the rooms are better equipped to reach the staffing standards. She said some of the grade levels at Tonalea have limited to no excess capacity.
If the 85% calculation is not applied, Tonalea’s middle school capacity would be under its limit, although Dr. Sackos said she doesn’t recommend ignoring that calculation.
She said the district plans to receive input from the Yavapai and Tonalea communities to better determine what to do in the future. Coronado, Dr. Sackos said, will continue to accept students for enrollment.
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