TheHomewoodStar.com
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October 2013
The Homewood Star Volume 3 | Issue 7 | October 2013
neighborly news & entertainment for Homewood
Spicy or sweet?
Get ready to chow down on Birmingham’s best at this year’s Kick’n Chick’n Wing Fest, set for Oct. 12 in downtown Homewood. Find all the details in this issue.
Community page 19
Let’s get together
At Edgewood Elementary School, the cafeteria starts serving lunch to its approximately 800 students at 10:30 a.m. and doesn’t wrap up until 1:30 p.m. Seeing evidence of school population growth at Edgewood and other elementary schools, Homewood City Schools is now considering how to accommodate increasing student population in its facilities. Photo by Jeff Thompson.
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At one time, rising enrollment at Edgewood Elementary School presented a specific problem for Principal Patricia Simpson. “Specials,” the school’s term for activity classes like music and art, were once on a five-day rotation schedule. But as the number of students climbed, these classes began to burst at the seams. “Sometimes I had a class and a half or even two classes in at a time,” said Edgewood music teacher Theresa McKibben. Simpson’s solution, now in full effect at the school, was to amend the rotation schedule. Students now attend each special class once every seven days. And because extending the rotations left gaps, Simpson filled them with even more activities — technology, expressive writing and social studies. “You have to adapt, and we’ve done that,” she said. “But we wouldn’t have done it if there weren’t more students now than there used to be.” Homewood City Schools (HCS) is now looking to address how education facilities will accommodate the increasing growth in school enrollment. Last month, Homewood City Schools Superintendent Bill Cleveland charged a Strategic Planning Committee to develop a solution for
the growing student population. Enrollment numbers fluctuated for many years, he explained, but have grown year after year since 2006. Back then, Edgewood had approximately 500 students. Now, the school serves nearly 800. “We start serving lunch at 10:30 a.m. and don’t slow down until almost 1:30 p.m.,” Simpson said. The Central Office is asking the committee of educators, administrators and community members for direction. For now, walls can be moved to fit children in a school, but such small changes will not be sustainable in the long term. “We still have places where we can do things like that, but the things we can do will end,” Cleveland said. “You have to face these [issues] honestly. Everyone is talking about it anyway.” The Strategic Planning Committee developed the overall HCS Strategic Plan three years ago, as HCS does every five years, to guide the system. However, Dr. Betty Winches, assistant superintendent for instruction, said they did not then recognize the pattern of growth like they do now. And that’s why they have come back together to address the issue. Much like three years ago, the committee will research the issue and come back to the Central Office with a
See SCHOOLS | page 29
Homewood City Schools Enrollment, 1980-2012
1800 1600 1400 Student Population
Community page 21
By MADOLINE MARKHAM
Elementary School
1200 1000
High School
800 600
Middle School
400 ‘80
‘ 88
‘84
‘ 92
‘ 96 Year
‘00
‘ 04
‘08
Homewood Population by Age 500
0-4
5-17
Age
18-64
65+
0
-500 U.S. Census data from censusviewer.com/city/AL/Homewood.
Above, Homewood City Schools enrollment numbers show that elementary school population has grown every year since 2004. Middle school population has also grown since 2006 but with a less dramatic increase. Left, city population data confirms that the number of school-aged children in the city is growing.
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‘12
Enrollment data provided by Homewood City Schools. Enrollment data is the average of the first 40 days of school for each respective year. For 2006, it was the enrollment from 20 days after Labor Day.
Change in City Population, 2000-2010
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What next?
Homewood City Schools starting work on plan to accommodate growing student population
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