It’s grown some much, district leaders say that the school is out of space. Current school enrollment is 1,135 which is more than the school is meant to handle.
“Ideally, for a school our size, about 1,000 [students],” said Sunrise Principal Deb Shepard.
Before the school was built, the district analyzed building permits and births rates, and tried to predict how many students would be in the school boundary area. The problem is, this part of Blaine grew faster than either the district or the city predicted. Enrollment numbers are down 2 to 11 percent over the last three years at every other Blaine area elementary school in the district.
But at Sunrise, it was up more than 17 percent at the start of this school year, and it’s grown since then.
“We are committed to keeping the class size within the school board approved ratio, so we are creative with some of our space,” said Shepard.
Sometimes getting creative looks like small group instruction in the hall, or staff sharing a space.
Or sometimes it looks like a portable office, like the one speech clinician Emily Jacobson carries around the school to work with students.
The school is finding solutions, but it’s not ideal. Beyond space for staff and students to work and learn, there are struggles with getting this many students through the lunch line during the lunch period.
“There’s a lot of those pieces to consider that maybe a person that’s not working in this school doesn’t realize,” said Shepard.
The district is considering some changes. One option would be to move next year’s Sunrise Kindgarten classes to Johnsville Elementary, and another is moving next year’s fifth graders to Roosevelt Middle School a year early. The district is considering the options and getting feedback from parents, with a final decision coming at the Feb. 28 school board meeting.
