By: BRENDA DURAN – Staff Writer NC Times
SAN MARCOS —- To prepare for projected growth and relieve overcrowding at San Marcos High, school officials built the district’s second high school across town two years ago and populated it with most of the city’s students.
Today, many say the disparity in enrollment, which aimed to open space at San Marcos High for a population explosion in the southern part of the city, has affected everything from athletics to student programs at the 43-year-old school.
There are 1,658 students currently enrolled at San Marcos High, and plenty of student vacancies. Across town at Mission Hills High it is the opposite —- the two-year-old campus has already reached capacity at 2,424 students.
Although district officials at both schools planned for the imbalance that would occur when they divided the student population in 2004, some say achieving a balanced number of students at the two campuses is taking longer than expected.
“We wanted to have two equal high schools,” said school board member Alan Brown. “It didn’t quite work out that way. Who knows if it ever will.”
The split
When officials adopted attendance boundaries for both high schools in 2002, it was expected there would be an imbalance at first, which was needed to ensure enrollment relative to each school’s capacity in the years to come, said Mission Hills High Principal Brad Lichtman, who served on the boundary committee.
In general, students who live north of Highway 78 go to Mission Hills and those who live south of the highway go to San Marcos High. In December 2003, the school board added an area just north of Highway 78, along Rancho Santa Fe and Mission roads, to the San Marcos High attendance area.
“Making Mission Hills a bit larger than San Marcos High was intentional,” said Lichtman. “It is a much larger facility.”
Mission Hills High was built to accommodate 2,400 students. San Marcos High, which was supporting all of the city’s 2,700 high school students before Mission Hills opened, can comfortably serve up to 2,200, according to district officials.
Officials expect the city will see most of its growth in the area surrounding San Marcos High, due to the expansion of the San Elijo Hills community southeast of the school. When it is completed in 2008, the community will have 3,400 homes and about 8,000 residents.
School officials decided they would support that growth without having to redraw boundaries by allowing a disparity in enrollment at San Marcos High for a few years. The boundaries were drawn looking at long term projections of four to five years, said Lichtman.
But not all of the district’s projections have panned out.
Officials first projected Mission Hills High would open with 1,200 students. However, the first year the school opened with a total of 1,900 students, some 700 more than expected, because many parents made a concerted effort to transfer their children there.
Lichtman said last year, when 250 seniors from San Marcos High moved to Mission Hills, the addition brought about numerous challenges.
“There was a tremendous drain on our resources,” said Lichtman, referring to the 60 percent increase in students.
Lichtman said because Mission Hills reached capacity sooner than expected, officials had to hire new staff members and look for more financial resources to pay for training and professional development.
There are currently 105 teachers and more than 200 support staff members at the school, more than 50 percent of whom are new this year, said Lichtman.
Because the school has reached capacity, it has also been closed to both intradistrict and interdistrict transfers and it is unclear whether that will change any time soon, Lichtman said.
Lichtman said splitting the high school student body also had some positive impact.
“The tremendous growth allowed us to hire (an) exceptional staff,” said Lichtman. “It’s been a good complement to our veteran staff.”
Another positive, Lichtman said, is that more students have been able to take advantage of the school’s specialized academies in culinary arts, fire fighting and nursing.
Former San Marcos High Principal Nancy Peterson, who now serves as the district’s secondary curriculum director, said the split created challenges at that school as well.
The first program to be affected was athletics, said Peterson.
Many of the San Marcos High varsity teams had to recruit younger students to fill the spots vacated when the 250 seniors left last year. The move has put San Marcos High at the bottom of countywide sports scores, said Peterson.
“It had the most impact on our football teams,” said Peterson. “We had very small teams because there were not that many kids.”
San Marcos High also had to cut back its advanced placement courses, specifically history and biology, because of low enrollment, said Peterson.
Peterson said band and drama were also hit hard, and are still working to increase the number of students participating.
Officials say San Marcos High is projected to fill the gaps by enrolling 250 to 300 students every year for the next five years, when officials project it will be as big as Mission Hills High.
Dealing with change
For students at both schools the split has been both negative and positive.
Mission Hills High senior Michael Salazar, who moved to Mission Hills as a sophomore, said although the new school has a bigger campus it still has long lunch lines.
“Sometimes it takes a whole lunch time to get a lunch,” said Michael.
Mission Hills High senior Ashley Thom, who also moved her sophomore year from San Marcos High, said her first year the school was “really crowded.”
“They would run out of food sometimes,” recalled Ashley.
For other students the split has had the biggest effect on their social life.
Mission Hills High senior Patricia Schuette said the split broke up a lot of her friendships.
“It bums me out,” said Patricia. “The first year I was always trying to transfer back.”
Across town at San Marcos High, students say the change created a more cohesive environment and more school spirit.
“We have a rival now, so it’s made us more competitive,” said senior Bianca Juarez.
Junior Krystal Rojano said she likes that the campus is no longer “crowded,” and the camaraderie of the students at the campus.
“It’s better than having a huge school,” said Krystal. “Everyone knows each other and you can spend more one on one time with teachers.”
However, Krystal said the one thing she misses is the having strong athletic teams to cheer on.
“They (Mission Hills) took the majority of our players,” said Krystal.
San Marcos High junior Kylee Kammler, said like many she misses a lot of her close friends who went to Mission Hills, but has been trying to look on the bright side.
“I try it to see it as being a lot more fun,” said Kylee. “I get gossip from two places now.”
Hope for balance
Lichtman said although the enrollment imbalance has had an impact on athletics and programs at San Marcos High, he is confident both schools will achieve parity as projected.
“I really believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Lichtman said. “I believe the two schools will … complement each other very well.”
Peterson agreed, but said that meanwhile, the school has been able to gain a lot of support while it adjusts.
Small classes and programs continue to receive funding from the district to stay afloat, Peterson said.
“We have been very lucky,” said Peterson. “The district has remained very supportive and understanding of what the school is dealing with.”
Brown, however, who will be leaving the district board after 25 years this November, said he is not as optimistic as others and would like to see officials re-evaluate the attendance boundaries.
It will take a long time for San Marcos High to catch up to Mission Hills, and even though it has been projected the two schools will be equal, that is just a guess, Brown said.
“I think in the next five years, San Marcos High will be significantly behind in attendance, academics and sports,” said Brown. “I hope I am wrong.”
Filed under: San Elijo Elementry, San Elijo Hills News
