Union County Schools adding portable classrooms (Weddington, Marvin: wedding, middle schools, taxes)

[NCbound01]

Due to overcrowding Union County schools will be adding portable classrooms.

I have a question, possibly stupid, but here goes. I've noticed all elementary schools and most middle schools are one floor. Would the overcrowding problem be solved if they built school buildings with multiple floors? Portables aren't exactly nice looking. I don't get why all schools here in NC are one story.

[Feltdesigner]

This means taxes will be going up soon in Union County.

Seems like adding a 2nd floor would solve the problem.

[cc0789]

Its because the schools are built based on a set population. The population fluctuates, and the cheapest thing to do is to add portable classrooms, that they can move to the schools that need them.

We had portable classrooms in our elementary school a few years back, because there was a big boom of young kids. We haven't had to have them for a few years now, but now the middle school needs them, because those kids are moving up. The highschool will need them in a few years. Our kindergarten class is the smallest that there has ever been at our school, and if that trend continues, we will have more empty classrooms than we already have. If every school was built to accommodate all the students of their highest population year, we would be left with vacant buildings in a few years.

Union County has a great population study that pretty much shows a mouse in a snake affect that happened when the building boom had young families moving in... once that mouse moves through, and you get more empty nesters and young couples, we won't have a space issue.

[lauralaylin]

My guess is that with the economy getting better, they'll go back to their original plan to add more schools. I know by me they were planning on two elementary schools, and the last I heard was that they backed it down to only one, and they had pushed the date back. I wouldn't be surprised if it was open in the next 10 years or so. Our elementary school has trailers and is only six years old, and one next door has been open even less time. Crazy how fast everything is growing down here again.

[momtothree]

We were in Weddington schools and they are HUGE. Many empty classrooms too. I think the newer schools in Marvin and Weddington were built that way to anticipate the growth of the area. And when the older UCPS were built, Union county was nothing like it is nowadays.

[lauralaylin]

Are Weddington schools new? I had assumed they'd been around for a while.

[thebalogas]

They used portables at Porter Ridge Elementary when we moved here. That was 5 years ago. There were 1000 students in the elementary school. They built Poplin Elementary and it split. That was about 4 years ago. The portables have sat empty all of that time. I always wondered why they didn't move them to an area where they were needed, I know it would cost, but it's got to be cheaper than building.

[ZnGuy]

Originally Posted by lauralaylin

Are Weddington schools new? I had assumed they'd been around for a while.

Weddington M/H Schools were opened in 1999. They then split the school when they added Marvin Ridge in 2007. Then Weddington & Marvin Ridge were split when they built Cuthbertson more recently (don't know exact year).

[Riley09swb]

My son is going to the new charter school in Cabarrus county. It's two stories.

[momtothree]

New to me as in 10 years or so. ;D Coming from Myers Park Traditional Elementary, WES and WMS was definitely new to me. And it's the Weddington Elementary and Middle that shares the building. The high school is across the field in it's own building.