By Sue Kiesewetter
Enquirer contributor

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Enrollment at Independence Elementary School will be capped for the coming school year, forcing some students to be reassigned to VanGorden Elementary.

Which students will be affected should be determined in the next week as Lakota educators wrestle with an increasing student enrollment - projected to grow by at least 375 students - and decreasing space.

"Change is not fun but we're all going to get used to it," said parent Lyn Rettos. "You're not going to please everyone."

There are about 912 students at Independence but only 684 at VanGorden, said Superintendent Kathleen Klink. Projections call for Independence to grow by 100 or more while VanGorden is expected to grow by fewer than 35 students by the start of classes in August.

Options include moving whole subdivisions from Independence to VanGorden, or assigning all new students from the Independence attendance area to VanGorden.

"It's not easy either way," said board member Dan Warncke. "If we fail (a levy) again, we'll have to make other adjustments."

Along with moving Independence students, Klink said there is a need to relocate three preschool classes from the Lakota Early Childhood Center to Shawnee Elementary and possibly Hopewell Elementary/Junior schools, depending on enrollment.

The high schools also are getting a look. With 1,781 students, Lakota West is at capacity, Klink said. Projections call for another 70 students in the new year.

Lakota East, with 1,641 students, is projected to be at capacity next year, when enrollment is projected at 1,700, Klink said. Further complicating the situation is a large eighth-grade class that will hit Lakota East and West by the start of the 2005-2006 school year.

One of the options being considered for the 2005-06 school year is reassigning freshmen to either Lakota East or West high school and then going to double sessions at both high schools for grades 9-12.

Half the students would attend class in the mornings, the others in the afternoons. That would free up the freshman school for elementary students.

Another option would be to go to double sessions for one or more elementary schools.