The high schools feel cramped, but a consultant hired to help the School Board develop a facilities plan will produce a quantitative answer. Principals have created one-way corridors and established special routes to clear packed hallways. Parking places are at a premium.
Students gulp lunch in jammed cafeterias.
Weeks ago at Citrus High, principal Gary Foltz ordered new furniture so his students would all have desks. Things there will get worse next year, when rezoned students pulled away from Lecanto, and a large freshman class could pour another 200 to 300 students into the school's congested corridors. His teachers might lose their classrooms during planning time to accommodate the crowds. Citrus High isn't alone. But feeling crowded in the high schools doesn't necessarily translate into needing a new high school in the eyes of the state Department of Education, which must sign off on such expensive construction.