The school opened with 538 students, was designed to hold 750, and presently has 842. But school population projections worry some people, and for different reasons. Some have expressed concern that the same method used to project the high school population eight years ago when the school was in the planning stages, is being used now. Five years from now, they say, the town might be looking at the same problem again. Others worry that the present high enrollment is a bubble, and for a temporary increase, portables are a less expensive option than multimillion dollar additions.
Projections are just that.
They are the probability, the possibility, the maybe. The student projections being used were replicated by the Regional Planning Commission and the state, and are as objective as possible, officials say. Also, there are approximately 350 buildable lots left in Amherst. That indicates some limits on population, but not when the limit will be reached. Absent a crystal ball, that leaves projections.