As the city of Ridgefield has undergone population and business growth in recent years, its school system has remained the same. The district has not had a new school built since 1972. The last remodeling project came 18 years ago. Meanwhile, residents have passed only two bond measures for school upgrades in the past 20 years.
The result of this troubling equation, officials said, is schools rife with overcrowding, portable classrooms used as a long-term solution and a lack of core facilities such as gyms and cafeterias. The school district also suffers from safety issues associated with buses and parents waiting in the same line after school, officials said.
The school district needs an infusion of money to accommodate the student increase, officials said this week, but raising the money promises to be difficult. In the past 10 years, voters have rejected five bond proposals.
District officials said a new bond would likely go before voters in early 2012, but have not determined how much money they would seek. Information discussed at a recent Ridgefield schools symposium suggested improvements could cost $39 million to $45 million.
Ridgefield officials will discuss results from the symposium on district needs at an open house from 6-8 p.m. Thursday at the Ridgefield Community Center, 210 N. Main Ave.
“I would say four or five years ago, it was important,” Ridgefield Superintendent Art Edgerly said of school improvements. “Today, I’d say it’s urgent.”
The portable buildings at the district’s four schools have overstayed their welcome, and have done nothing to ease the burden on other school resources, district officials said.
“It’s a space issue and an aging issue,” Edgerly said. “The portables are not built as well as schools.”
The portable buildings are separate from the main buildings. This separation creates safety concerns, reduces instructional time and limits the amount of technological equipment available to students.
At Union Ridge Elementary, there are five portable buildings with two classrooms in each. The classrooms hold up to 25 students each. At any given time, almost 40 percent of the school’s 635 students are taught in portables.
“We have a lot of kids and we’re running out of space,” Union Ridge Assistant Principal Paul Hulbert said. “We need something different. We can’t keep on building portables.”
The school has three separate lunch periods to accommodate all the students. The extra lunch period impacts other class schedules, including physical education, which uses half of the gym during lunch.
South Ridge Elementary School and Ridgefield High School also have more than 10 classrooms in portable buildings. View Ridge Middle has the fewest portable buildings, with three.
“The biggest problem is the disconnect when we’re trying to build a learning community,” South Ridge Elementary Principal Janice Sauve said of the portable buildings. “And they’re old.”
“There’s not enough room for everybody,” she continued. “It’s exciting to have the population (growth), but we want to provide for them.”
A glance at the three-lane gridlock of buses and parents’ vehicles at South Ridge Elementary illustrates that the lack of space stretches outside the school’s classrooms.
Most parents have become used to the parking situation, but danger is never far away, said Debbie McGravey, president of South Ridge Elementary’s Parent-Teacher Association.
“There are a lot of blind spots,” McGravey said. “I’ve almost seen a couple of kids and grown-ups get hit there.”
The dearth of parking makes it difficult to hold events at the school, she added.
McGravey suggested Ridgefield school officials hold tours for the public to see the schools’ condition. That way, those residents who don’t have children in the system would realize its needs.
South Ridge’s overcrowding problems limits the programs it can offer. For instance, security concerns make school officials think twice about putting technological equipment in the portables, McGravey said. She hoped that would change if a bond passed.
“It’s all fine and dandy to build new buildings but if we don’t have programs with that, nothing’s going to change,” she said.
Ray Legendre: 360-735-4517; ray.legendre col_smallcities
