A Post Concerning "Overcrowding" Now and In the Past

So much has been stated and written as to how S.P.H.S. is so overcrowded, I would like to create a scenario that suggests that the campus is less crowded than in earlier times.

The first thing we need to understand is that the campus is now a four-year campus, compared to years I attended the school, when it was a three-year campus.

Let's take a look at what the facts were and what is claimed now and how the two sets of numbers might demonstrate that, back then, with fewer classrooms, the campus was essentially more overcrowded than it is now.

Here is a list of the number of graduates from the decade of the 1970's as compiled by a historian/teacher at S.P.H.S. for use during it Centennial Celebration in 2003:

Winter, 1970 57 Graduates

Summer, 1970 751 Graduates

Class of 1971 900 Graduates

Class of 1972 1053 Graduates

Class of 1973 955 Graduates

Class of 1974 945 Graduates

Class of 1975 920 Graduates

Class of 1976 940 Graduates

Class of 1977 808 Graduates

Class of 1978 771 Graduates

Class of 1979 717 Graduates

I am now going to imagine that between September, 1971 and June, 1975, the campus would have been a four-year campus and not the three year campus, that it is now.

Taking the classes of 1972-1975 we find that 1053, 955,945, and 920 seniors would have graduated, had it been a four-year campus.

The total of that count is 3,873 possible graduates, or folks who could have attended a four-year campus.

Now it seems to me that nobody has claimed that there is anywhere near that current attendance at the four-year campus, today.

It seems to me that proportionally, the four classes of 1972-1975 would have provided a much more crowded campus than is found today.

I do understand that folks will state that this is an apples to oranges debate, but taking into account that far fewer percentages of students actually graduate from S.P.H.S. and the condition that the campus is now physically larger than it was during the previous time, I am still amazed that some folks continue to decry how crowded the campus is.

I think if folks take a look at the average daily attendance of the school, today, they would find a lower percentage of students attending classes.

But lets consider that we do not use the four-year campus concept for the 1970's and go back to using just the factual numbers for the classes of 1972, 1973, and 1974.

Adding just those three classes into the pot of a smaller campus back then, at S.P.H.S. and you will see that 2,953 students crowded the halls of a smaller campus, were most probably attending classes more often and graduated and much higher percentages than we see today.

Let's say that there are currently 3,500 students attending S.P.H.S. or are supposed to be attending the school.
That is 547 actual more students than graduated in the three years of 1972, 1973, and 1974.

Should we pay at least $88 Million Dollars to construct any new campus for at least that number of students?

How come the Mystics, Ke-Alians, and Prometheans were able to be schooled well enough and have a campus managed will enough to come up with the percentages of graduates they actually had?

It certainly doesn't seem to be reasonable, realistic, responsible, or respectful to build a new campus that would NOT ease classroom overcrowding, but might call for cross-town movement between campuses, be situated in an area of such significance to OUR community, and not necessarily produce one single more percentage of graduates.

Also, many individuals supporting the construction of a new campus at the Upper Reservation of Fort MacArthur are allow staunch supporters of the concept that the two magnet programs now being done at the main campus, should be moved to the new campus.

This means that if only two "academies" were built for the Marine Sciences and Law Enforcement programs, at any new campus, they are the only two programs currently being conducted at the main campus that allows students from all over the district to attend. Less cars, buses and drop offs at the main campus, with the bulk of that drop going to a new campus.