Iowa City West High Shifting Schedules To Deal With Crowding

By Mark Carlson, Reporter

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By Belinda Yeung

Story Created: Feb 4, 2012 at 8:38 AM CDT

Story Updated: Feb 4, 2012 at 10:37 AM CDT

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Iowa City West High School is taking a proactive approach to dealing with a growing student-body. Next year the school will begin offering more early bird classes to students in an effort to cut down on a growing congestion problem.

“We want to stretch out the school day, so we dont’ necessarily have all the kids here all the time,” said assistant principal Molly Abraham. “Our hope is that we’d have not all the kids coming at 8 o’clock and not all the kids trying to leave at 3:30.”

Right now the school offers a few early bird classes, which begin shortly after 7 o’clock. Abraham said nearly 20 teachers have expressed interest in joining the early bird program.

The early classes will be offered to juniors and seniors. Some of those students will finish their school day by 12:30, depending on how they organize their schedule.

“I work a lot and for early risers like me, who are only planning on taking five classes, it’s a really nice thing,” said junior Michaela Recker, who plans on enrolling in early classes next fall.

The district has discussed adding a high school, but talks have resulted in little progress. Currently more than 1,900 students are enrolled at West High, leading to crowded hallways and parking lots.

“The parking lot, don’t even get me started,” Recker said with a laugh. “That’s just a pain for everybody.”

Abraham credited West High Principal Jerry Arganbright with the new scheduling idea. Shifting schedules will open up more opportunities for both the school and the students, she said.

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