Does MRH Need Bigger Schools Now? Superintendent Hall Talks Enrollment

People are moving into the Maplewood Richmond Heights School District in greater numbers than were expected even a year ago.

“We’ve become a destination school district,” Superintendent of Schools Karen Hall said. “People want to live in Maplewood and Richmond Heights, and as a result the enrollment has increased.”

It started a decade ago, when Linda Henke was hired as the MRH superintendent of schools, and began implementing new programs.

Now, after building a new elementary school and early childhood center, people are beginning to wonder if the schools are big enough.

“I don’t have a definite answer yet, because we’re at the beginning stages,” Hall said.

“Because there’s this steady trend, and there is only so much space, of course. We’re trying to weigh our options.”

A year ago, then superintendent, Henke, led a long-range facilities planning committee. Stakeholders were included, and talked what they would like to see in the growing district. The school board is looking at that information from a year ago, and comparing that to the current situation.

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For a snapshot of the growth in the district, 74 students are graduating from MRH, and 122 kindergartners are entering the system.

“It’s like a wave,” Hall said. “The students and the families are sustaining, so it’s making its way up.” She said they’ve added teachers at both the E.C.C. and the elementary school.

She said the schools are making due for now, so they don’t want to build new schools without a complete analysis of the community values.

The long-range facilities planning committee will reconvene and look at what has happened in the year since they last met.

“Literally in 12 months, the numbers are different (higher) than we thought they were. So do our priorities change?”

She said the board wants to know what the community values before any decisions are made on new buildings. After the committee does its analysis the results will go out to the community for feedback before any decisions are made.