Albany

First envisioned as a temporary home for 250 displaced charter school students, the Albany City School District's new West Hill Middle School may not be so temporary after all.

The school board agreed Thursday to keep the Elk Street school open at least another year as it decides how best to accommodate a burgeoning middle school population. But some board members expressed concerns that leaving things as is, even for one more year, could result in jam-packed classrooms that jeopardize students already at risk of falling behind.

"Are we going to wind up with classrooms with 30 or 38 kids in them jammed up like sardines?" asked board member Rose Brandon. "This is my hesitation. I'm concerned about too many kids in these buildings and overcrowded classrooms, because then the academics go right down the tube."

To avoid overcrowding this fall, the district says it will cap enrollment at Hackett and Myers middle schools to 650 students and 725 students, respectively. The schools are already at or near capacity, and if the caps are reached, the district will then start redistributing students to other schools.

West Hill will remain open and a planned phase-out of grades 6-8 at North Albany Academy has been put on hold to accommodate the potential influx.

The plan was one of two short-term options offered up by the grade reconfiguration committee, which formed last year to study long-term possibilities for the district's elementary and middle schools. The other option would have had West Hill students relocate to 50 N. Lark St., a bigger space that houses the district's Alternative Learning Center. But that would have triggered up to three building relocations across the district and at least one of the spaces would have needed renovations.

Maintaining the status quo isn't ideal, board members said Thursday, but it creates the fewest disruptions for students while the district comes up with a long-term facilities solution.

"Having been a part of the grade configuration process from the beginning, I want to point out this is the best option we have," said board member Ellen Roach. "But using West Hill Middle School was always a stop-gap solution and not really the best possibility for our kids."

The grade configuration committee was originally charged with deciding which grades the district should offer at the elementary, middle and high school levels, with hopes of implementing a uniform, districtwide plan by fall 2016.

But in November 2015, just days after voters first rejected plans for a new high school, the district learned it had a looming middle school crisis. New enrollment projections showed the district's already crowded middle schools would need to absorb another 153 students in the fall and about 425 new students over the next decade.

The district had just opened West Hill Middle School as a short-term fix for suddenly having to accommodate several hundred former charter school students who were displaced when Brighter Choice middle schools closed their doors. The district leased the old Brighter Choice space on Elk Street, which eased the transition for many, but the classrooms were about half the size recommended by state education officials and soon became crowded when enrollment neared 300.

The grade configuration committee is urging the district to open a new, permanent middle school somewhere on the city's north side as a long-term solution to its middle school woes.

The north side was once home to Philip Livingston Magnet Academy, but the district closed the junior high school in 2009 following years of dwindling enrollment and charter school growth, forcing families on that side of the city to travel long distances to get to the district's other middle schools. Board members recently expressed regret that the building was sold and converted into apartments, as it would now be an ideal space for a permanent middle school.

bbump@timesunion.com • 518-454-5387 • @bethanybump