Center Grove schools is embarking on a plan to hire more teachers and staff, build two new schools and remodel other schools as it copes with continued growth that is expected to bring enrollment to 10,000 students in the coming years.
The schools have been steadily growing, adding almost 3,000 students since 2000. Projections show 8,688 students this fall, up 264 since September of 2018. Adding a similar number of students each year will require Center Grove schools to expand by renovating their existing buildings, adding new staff and building new schools, according to school officials. Enrollment is expected to hit 10,000 when school starts in 2025 — six years from now.
That means the largest school district in Johnson County will get even larger —more bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, administrators and teachers. More schools will be built. The existing schools will be overhauled to make more space for more students.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Besides the already-planned project at the high school, none of the construction, staffing or operational costs have been calculated.
“We’ve been able to manage growth and keep the tax rate relatively flat,” Superintendent Richard Arkanoff said. “It will get more challenging to do that as we get larger and need more funding.”
Already, Walnut Grove Elementary is set to open in August with 600 students enrolled and room for 200 more.
But the school district has already been looking ahead to how to plan for more students and has hired Cooperative Strategies, a nationwide consulting firm. The plans call for building another elementary school and a third middle school and renovating multiple other buildings.
Students may take classes in portable classrooms across the district as the growth continues, because the school district will not build new schools before enough students are enrolled to warrant additional buildings, Arkanoff said.
The current plan calls for starting construction of a seventh elementary school in March of 2024, when the schools project they will have 9,713 students. That elementary school would open in time for the 2026-27 school year, according to school officials.
Center Grove High School will continue to get bigger as well. The district has considered the cost of building and operating a second high school, and that is not an option, Arkanoff said.
A new $17 million pool facility at Center Grove High School will open in 2021. During the construction, the school will move its art program into the current pool space and will add eight to 11 classrooms for more students as part of a $45 million renovation project, Arkanoff said.
Both middle schools will be renovated to make room for more students, said Bill Long, Assistant Superintendent of Operations. A third middle school could be built in 2035, if student growth projections are accurate.
Renovations at Middle School North, set to take place in 2021, will expand the orchestra space for a growing program, expand the cafeteria and add classrooms. Renovations at Middle School Central will happen the following year, and in both buildings, the schools will add classrooms to delay the need for a third middle school, Long said.
Sugar Grove and Pleasant Grove elementary schools are also expected to be renovated in the next decade.
The schools can’t calculate the cost of each project until they get closer to starting construction, spokesperson Stacy Conrad said.
Between 2020 and 2026, Center Grove schools project they’ll hire an additional 24 elementary school, 12 middle school and 11 high school teachers, with an additional number of teachers and administrators needed for the seventh elementary school, according to school officials.
With student growth, the schools will also need to add bus drivers and maintenance officials, among other positions, but the number of those employees they’ll need has also not been calculated yet, Long said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”By the numbers” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Enrollment at Center Grove schools
Year;students
’94-95;5,933
’98-99;6,564
’03-04;7,033
’08-09;7,551
’13-14;7,713
’18-19;8,426
’23-24;9,713*
’28-’29;11,016*
*Projected
Source: Center Grove Community School Corp.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Growth plan
2019-21: Renovate Center Grove High School
2020: Renovate Pleasant Grove and Sugar Grove elementary schools
2021-22: Renovate and expand both middle schools
2023: Second phase of high school renovation
2026: Open seventh elementary
2035: Add third middle school
[sc:pullout-text-end]
