The new Johnson Elementary School isn’t just your typical brick and mortar school house. It’s been designed with features many may not be aware of from a setup to allow sunlight in the rooms most of the day to pods of classrooms for each grade level.

 

The second grade at JES gets the sunlight. It also is set up with four pods that allow the maximum of 25 students each.

 

On day one, the school experienced what it was expecting to experience. There were too many second graders than is allowed per classroom.

 

“The four second grade classrooms we have were all full with 25 students each,” said Principal Vicki Huffman.

 

Typically, students could be sent to the other schools that eventually feed all or part of their students into Bridgeport Middle School – Simpson Elementary or Norwood.

 

“Those schools were also at capacity,” said Huffman.

 

Knowing what was coming, Huffman said a small room at the new school was designated to handle the overflow. Other than not being in a full class, the eight students that were supposed to be there will have a typical learning experience. The room is being staffed by a substitute teacher.

 

“Six of the eight showed up and we have possibly two spots that we can absorb,” said Huffman. “We’re still looking at the situation. This, as of yet, is not a permanent situation. The one thing (Harrison County School Superintendent) Dr. (Mark) Manchin wanted to make sure was that the kids had a place to go and then we could work this out.”

 

The problem could work itself on its own. Enrollments in all classes fluctuate during the early weeks of the school year and prior to making any permanent decision staff needs to see the actual numbers they may be working with.

 

“We’ll do everything we can to do what’s best for the children. Our administration, Doctor Manchin and the county office will all be involved on how we address that moving forward,” said Huffman. “The first thing we’ve done is to not accept out of area students.”

 

That, of course, leads to the question as to why the new multi-million dollar school wasn’t built to handle the influx of bigger enrollment. Huffman said it’s an easy answer, but not necessarily a great one.

 

“When you have an SBA (School Building Authority, which funded the bulk of the school’s funding) project, you can only build to match the current enrollment even if you know you’re growing. This building was based on numbers from when the project got the green light two years ago,” said Huffman. “Since then, in our feeder area, you’ve seen the addition of apartments on Lodgeville, Route 131 and all of the housing out (on Meadowbrook Road).”

 

Even with this issue, the principal believes things are still better.

 

“We’ll work through this. In comparison to other issues we’ve faced in the past, I’m confident we can resolve this in the best interest of those students,” said Huffman.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Principal Vicki Huffman, while the bottom pictures shows kids from various grades and their parents heading into the first day of classes.