Maricopa Wells Middle School – how big should it be?

As of Thursday student enrollment at Maricopa Wells Middle School for the new school year stands at about 1,200.

The school, originally designed for 850 students, was already over capacity when it opened, and more students are enrolling each day.

A new middle school at Tortosa is tentatively scheduled to open in mid-2008 although the opening may be delayed since the facility requires a completely new architectural design. It would be preliminarily planned to house 750 students.

Adding on to the current Maricopa Wells Middle School would allow for 300 – 400 additional students, but it would also take some of the open space currently in existence on that campus.

An addition to Maricopa Wells would have to be completed while students were on campus, and no design has yet been approved.

Board member Tim White asked whether an addition would ease the overcrowding problem at the middle school faster than waiting for the Tortosa site’s completion.

Architect Don Brubaker responded, “The bottom line is how big do you want your schools to be?”

Whatever the board’s decision, it needs to come relatively quickly. Board President Jim Chaston expressed the need to address the issue at the next board study session.