Like most things in my beloved Iredell County, it will be full and various schools will remain over crowded the day this school is opened. Great foresight at play here.
I like your idea of 600 to 800/900 students at a high school and keeping things more intimate between the staff and students and where more attention can be provided. The only problem with that is it seems like there would dozens and dozens of high schools in high population areas like Mecklenburg, Wake and Guilford Counties. It is probably more cost effective to have one huge high school with 2700 students rather than three high schools with 900 students each.
I wonder why there isn’t an East Iredell HS give east side of Statesville and such their own.
I would much rather school systems build 4-story versions of Jack Britt High in Fayetteville (capacity 5,000 plus or minus) and let them start out as empty husks that can grow with their communities
I’m curious if that would drop SI to 6A and Weathers creek to be 6A bc then it only be LN n Mooresville in 7A part of it with Davie
There are positives but a school with an enrollment of 800ish and below very often struggles with limited course offerings if the school has much diversity in the educational levels. I think the giant schools see a lot of students "get lost."
What a lazy choice.They will be the Falcons just seen it on a article
I-SS celebrates groundbreaking for Weathers Creek High School (Photos), Iredell Free News
IFN Staff Iredell-Statesville Schools officials hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday to commemorate the beginning of construction of Weathers Creek...www.iredellfreenews.com
I like the school not being a directional name!!!
Having worked in education now for almost 16 years and having taught at schools with student populations near 2000, all the way down to 400, I would say there is definitely a sweet spot as far student numbers go. Each type of school presents unique challenges. Someone on here said something about students getting "lost" in a giant school. From personal experience students can get lost in a small school if they don't interact with anyone around them. Sure it is easier for kids who are more socially awkward to get "lost in the shuffle" in big schools, but most kids find their way with a peer group. Schools around 1200-1400 kids are about perfect, you get enough athletes around to field fairly consistent and competitive teams and it forces you to hire enough teachers that you can offer some non-traditional classes that students enjoy taking. When you get down in small schools that are under 500 most counties under staff those schools. I know that sounds crazy but they often get overlooked. Smaller schools also don't have the teachers to be able to offer anything other than your core and CTE classes because the staffs allotment set by the county won't allow for it. Very big schools often have discipline issues just based on the sheer number of students. If you follow the 80-20 where most students fall in the 80% and are fine that is great. However if you get a school that has 3000 kids that 20% is gonna end up being 600 kids who have consistent discipline problems. Even if you break it down to 80-15-5 where 80% of the students are fine, 15% you have to stay on and monitor them and they don't get in major trouble but they are still disruptive that is still 450 kids at school with 3000 and 150 major discipline issues in the 5%, which can be a daunting task for any administrative team.
I am sure with the small rural schools (student populations of 500 and less), the counties also don't have the money to hire teachers that can instruct non-traditional subjects. I don't know the official breakdown of teacher salaries - if 100% is paid by the state or the county of the school picks up part of that? If the county picks up some of that, I assume many of the most rural NC counties (Hyde, Gates, Halifax, Tyrrell, for example) don't have the funds to attract teachers that can instruct in non-traditional type subjects. Plus, just the options one has for your lifestyle are going to be much more diverse in a metro area. If a teacher of Chinese language has an option to live in Swan Quarter, NC and teach at Mattamuskeet HS or live in Charlotte and teach with all that area has to offer, chances are they choose Charlotte. But your point about 1200-1400 students at a high school being the sweet spot is well taken. As you said, even if 15% of the students at a 2500-3000 student high school are a discipline problem, that is a lot of kids creating trouble.
