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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Murch is overcrowded.  Three new class sections were added this year in order to avoid having class sizes exceeding 30 students per room.  New trailers were brought onto the property and placed on the bluetop and in the staff parking.  Staff parking went from 45 parking spaces to 15.  Arrangements are still being made to find parking in the neighborhood for the staff.

The Murch property is one small block with no room to expand into additional parcels.  Part of that block is actually National Park Service land and so building on it may be problematic.  Expanding beyond the current footprint would necessarily take away staff parking and/or playground space.  So, more students, more staff, less parking and smaller playground.

Murch is overcrowded.[/quote]

Can you clarify in which grades? The lowest grades seem to be in much better shape, however I am not fully aware of the situation.[/quote]

This year, there are 3 PK classes, 5 classes each of K, 1st, and 2nd, and 4 classes each of 3rd, 4th, and 5th.    The three new classes are one each of K, 1, and 2.

As mentioned before, Murch also has a city-wide autism program, and I believe we have also added a new autism PK class this year.

The school feels so much more crowded compared to last year, with the new trailers (there were already quite a few, but the new ones take up most of the parking lot and part of the play area).  I believe the entire 4th and 5th grades are now in trailers.  We got an email from the school asking people not to drive to school if at all possible, because parking will be tighter in the neighborhood due to the loss of the staff parking lot.

As a PP mentioned, there are almost no OOB students in the lower grades.  The growth in enrollment, and the addition of new classes, is because of growth of IB demand.

A 5th grade parent last year told me more than 90% of the 5th grade was going on to Deal.
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Few other things.  Don't you think that five classes per grade is too big for an elementary school?  With kids in the older grades as well as younger I still see children who I've never seen before and we've been there 5 years+.    It is insane.

Secondly as someone mentioned our enrollment is expected to increase mainly because the apartment buildings along Connecticut provide a more affordable way for people to get in a decent school district.  Which gives us some diversity.  Also, we have a fair number of embassies who have rotating staff so children come and go every few years.  Again - great for diversity and International Night - hard for planning.  Hopefully, other schools will improve across the city and relieve the crush on Murch and other schools.
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As a Murch parent, my primary concern is appropriate space and safety. How many kids are in the school doesn't really concern me; I have friends in Arlington, and their ESs are similarly large. As long as class sizes are under control (which they are at Murch now that they added the fifth sections in the early grades), I don't feel like I need to know everyone I see on the playground.

But on the premise that the Murch expansion might not be able to accommodate all of the IB kids, there's still a problem...and one that redrawing boundaries alone probably won't fix. How long before Hearst inevitably attracts more IB kids--as Eaton has--and becomes overcrowded? [/quote]

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