School District Tackles Cherokee High School Overcrowding

CANTON, GA -- Cherokee County's oldest high school is bursting at the seams, and district decision makers are at the drawing board in an effort to come up with solutions to solve the long-running crisis. The school board at its Sept. 14 meeting heard plans to begin a public review of options that would relieve overcrowding at Cherokee High School.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian Hightower said he and his senior staff have been closely monitoring Cherokee High School enrollment, which now exceeds 2,600 -- and developing options to provide relief.

While the district contends the campus is not “critically overcrowded” due to solutions already implemented, Dr. Hightower has committed to gathering public input to make a recommendation for school board action that would go into effect in the 2018-19 school year.

“This is a transparent process,” Dr. Hightower said. “We will hold meetings that are open to the public, and we want to hear from everyone who has an opinion or concern about the possible solutions.”

Not only is the campus now home to 14 mobile units with 28 classrooms and 22 floating teachers, but 700 students crowd the cafeteria for each lunch period. Only 196 students – a fraction of the 458 seniors – are able to park on campus (no underclassmen have the opportunity); and hallways, restrooms and other infrastructure cannot comfortably accommodate any further growth (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app).

“Unfortunately, due to our school district’s decades of rapid growth coupled with a tax base that cannot generate enough revenue for us to ‘pay as we go’ with construction, we have a ‘mortgage’ to pay off from our aggressive building and major renovations plan… and not enough borrowing capacity to fund construction of a new high school in the next five years,” Dr. Hightower said, noting that cost could easily exceed $70 million.

Cherokee High School opened after the merger of the Canton Independent School District and the Cherokee County School District, and absorbed students from the former Canton High School and Reinhardt Academy. It held its first classes during the 1956-57 school year, its website states. In 1967, the third high school -- Ralph Bunche -- was consolidated into Cherokee High School.

For comparison's sake, here's a breakdown of the student population of the district's six high schools, according to the system's annual inventory of school housing released Aug. 29:

• Cherokee High School: 2,674
• Creekview High School: 1,995
• Etowah High School: 2,421
• River Ridge High School: 1,809
• Sequoyah High School: 1,912
• Woodstock High School: 2,308

While Dr. Hightower previously informed school board members of plans to include construction of a new high school campus to relieve Cherokee, which will take approximately three years to build, in the 2021 Education SPLOST referendum, he said Thursday that he strongly believes a solution is needed now.

“If we were two years from a solution, I might say we could do double sessions or another solution that would only involve Cherokee High School’s campus,” Dr. Hightower said. “But we’re not in that kind of timeframe.”

To begin the recommendation process, Attendance Focus Group Meetings will be held the week of Oct. 9-12. These meetings are open to the entire community: parents, employees, volunteers, partners, neighbors. At these meetings, the superintendent’s staff will share current data, projected growth and possible solutions.

The most important factors Dr. Hightower will take into consideration when reviewing these solutions are whether the changes will negatively impact teaching and learning and whether the recommendations will be fiscally responsible. He will make a recommendation to the school board at its November meeting, with a vote scheduled for the December meeting.

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“No matter what options are considered during the process, I want our employees to know they will not lose their position with CCSD because of the solution the school board chooses," the superintendent added. "You will have a home. We’re in growth mode, and we need all the teachers and staff we have… and we’ll need more as we continue to grow.”

Several possible solutions already are being floated by parents in the community involving various schools in the Cherokee Innovation Zone, including ACE Academy. All would require a shift of students or programs… and would need additional analysis as part of this input process.

The schedule of meetings is below – the public can attend any and all meetings, all of which are from 7 to 9 p.m.:

• Canton Elementary School STEM Academy: Oct. 9
• Knox Elementary School: Oct. 10
• R.M. Moore Elementary School: Oct. 11
• Cherokee High and ACE Academy: Oct. 12 at Cherokee's auditorium

Board members also on Thursday voted to advertise the sale of the CCSD Downtown Center -- the name used for the offices at the Historic Canton High School building -- and adjacent larger corner parking lot.

Image via Patch