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Crowding on the decline at Chantilly
Sometimes it's hard to walk the halls of Chantilly High School without bumping into someone. The school is overcrowded and people who navigate through it can really tell.Britney Koffer, a 2007 graduate of the school, attended the school shortly after another high school opened nearby to alleviate overcrowding at Chantilly.
In her early days, she said it wasn't as “claustrophobic” but, by the time she graduated, it was difficult not to run into people in the halls, Koffer said.
But now the school's population is decreasing, administrators and staff say.
Although it's difficult to attribute the decline to any one reason, Fairfax County Public Schools' recent boundary change and a real estate market that has come to a stand still are factors, according to Denise James, director of the school system's Facilities Planning Service.
“We're down from our high point,” Principal James Kacur, said.
Kacur is anticipating approximately 2,733 students to attend Chantilly High School this fall – which puts the school 210 students over capacity.
Chantilly High School began the 2007-08 school year with 2,838 students and ended with 2,797, Kacur said.
Parents and students have told Chantilly High School PTSA President Ted Velkoff that sometimes the hallways are so packed that students have to find alternative routes through the school. But Velkoff hasn't heard that the overcrowding affects education at the school, he said.
The school's biggest challenge related to overcrowding is not in its classrooms or hallways, but in its parking lot, according to Kacur.
With a tight parking lot that can only be accessed through a congested Stringfellow Road, moving vehicles through has been a challenge, he said.
The halls are “crowded but we try to do a good job of keeping things moving,” Kacur said.
Chantilly High School was built in 1972. In the 1990s, it became overcrowded and the county constructed the nearby Westfield High School to alleviate some of Chantilly's population.
Today, both schools are over capacity, although the population of both is declining and the new boundary change approved by the school board earlier this year will shift some students away from both schools.
Westfield High School – with a capacity of 2,823 students – ended the 2007-08 school year with 285 too many students. School staff expect the school to be 144 students over capacity this fall, Kacur said.
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