Next school year, Battle Ground Public Schools plans to offer free, full-day kindergarten to all kindergartners at Glenwood Heights Primary School. The district estimates it needs an additional three classrooms for kindergartners, but there’s a roadblock to that plan. The school’s enrollment is at capacity. There are no classrooms to spare.
Monday night, the district’s board of directors will discuss a potential boundary shift to alleviate overcrowding on the campus of Glenwood Heights Primary School and its neighbor, Laurin Middle School. Superintendent Mark Hottowe and other district officials will present the boundary options and will provide a recommendation for consideration at the 6 p.m. special meeting/work study in the commons at Laurin Middle School, 13601 N.E. 97th Ave., Vancouver. Community members and staff will be able to provide comments.
The school board is considering a boundary shift for some students to Maple Grove School, about 3 miles northeast of the Glenwood/Laurin campus, beginning in the 2016-2017 school year. Maple Grove School has 496 students, but has a capacity for 702. Currently, Maple Grove has about 10 available classrooms, said Sean Chavez, district spokesman.
No more portables
The solution isn’t as simple as adding more portable classrooms to the crowded two-school campus. Due to septic limitations, county restrictions prohibit the district from constructing additional classrooms at the current campus. First, the district would be required to do several million dollars in sewer work.
