Menlo-Atherton Considers Enrollment Cap

Sequoia Union High School District Trustees are discussing the possibility of capping enrollment at Menlo-Atherton High School in light of projected annual enrollment increases.

A report presented at Wednesday's meeting showed district attendance of 8,278 students is the highest it has been in more than a decade, an increase from 8,117 students last year, according to Susan Berghouse, Director of Enrollment.

"Looking at these figures tells me we will be facing a cap at Menlo-Atherton and Sequoia," Berghouse said. 

As of September, 1,825 students had enrolled in Menlo-Atherton High School, said district Superintendent James Lianides.

He suggested 2,100 students as the capacity for the high school.

Lianides said he would consider capping enrollment of Sequioa High School at 1,900, due to space constrictions, as well.

He said he would perform a study to inspect the different school's facilities, and see what kind of options the campus had to provide flexibility to accommodate extra students.

"These studies will provide a portrait of who has the most spacial capacity," said Lianides. "This could mean some of the amenities going away, the ones that could be used as classrooms. We want to know what our options are."

District enrollment has increased steadily over the past decade, and there's no immediate sign of slowing.

Local middle schools which feed into the district's high schools also feature large classes. Additionally, Menlo-Atherton's freshman class is one of the largest currently in the school, according to Berghouse.

"How are we going to prepare for the kids who haven't arrived yet?" asked Lianides.

The demand from students to transfer into Menlo-Atherton is also the highest in the district, despite difficulties in getting those transfer applications approved.

Fifty-one of the 141 students who requested to transfer to Menlo-Atherton were turned away, last academic year. In contrast, all 175 transfer applications requesting admittance to Sequoia High School were approved.

Lianides discussed the possibility of changing the transfer process so the district is aware of all transfer applications during the open enrollment period in January, that will allow the district to plan for all its incoming students.

As it stands now, there is an adjustment period where children may still transfer schools, which Lianides said occurs "regularly and randomly."

Trustees struggled with how to answer the question of how the district would cope with more students.

"We will continue to have growth in this district," said trustee Don Gibson. "The question is, how are we going to deal with this in the future?"

The district's other schools, Carlmont and Woodside, do not face the same enrollment stresses.

Some trustees tossed around the idea of utilizing some of the district's smaller schools to assist the larger ones deal with enrollment demands.

"Part of the issue is how we are going to be involving Woodside better in handling the growth over the district," trustee Alan Sarver said.

Trustee Lorraine Rumley said she saw the demand as a bi-product of having quality public schools.

"We have excellent schools and the community knows about them. The next question is how do we manage them?" she said. "I have no problem taking a close look at capping enrollment of incoming classes."