By Josh Resnek
School Superintendent Priya Tahiliani said a new high school will take 5-7 years during a presentation that was an eye opener for the city council Monday night.
‘We need more space, as much space as we can get for next year – and whatever space it is, it will need an expenditure of money to prepare for school use,” she said.
She said the new high school is not yet a guarantee for approval and funding.
Her appearance at the city council dove tailed an appearance before the school committee last week where she detailed the space difficulties the schools are facing.
Assistant Superintendent Charlie Obremski indicated that the former Everett High School is the most likely spot for more space to be developed in a short amount of time.
As many as 13-20 classrooms might be made available at the former high school.
However bridging the two high schools or rather, connecting them, is problematic according to Obremski.
Tahiliani said Pope John could be considered as available space but that this was not her decision.
Crowding at the high school is presently a serious problem with the numbers of students far exceeding the available classroom space.
Tahiliani said the situation would worsen at the beginning of the next school year.
“We need more space and we need it now,” Tahiliani told the Leader herald.
The entire school body represents a total of about 7800 students in all the grades.
The number of students attending EPS has increased yearly nearly every school year for the past decade.
When the new high school was opened in 2005, it was already too small to accommodate the larger number of students entering the school system.