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How should school district tackle growing enrollment?

The Las Lomitas School District is holding a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 9, to discuss options for addressing the district's growth in enrollment that is squeezing space and resources on the district's two campuses.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. in Cano Hall at Las Lomitas School, 299 Alameda de las Pulgas in Atherton.

A committee of district staff, teachers, parents and other community members has met for about nine months to address the issue, meeting with a demographer, analyzing costs of various options, studying the condition of the district's two leased-out sites, and reviewing the capacity of the two school campuses. The meeting is intended to share the committee's work with the public.

Superintendent Eric Hartwig said the district's enrollment has been growing at a rate of 4 percent annually for the last three years. Before that period, the growth rate had been between 1 percent and 2 percent, he said.

The district's demographer predicts that enrollment will continue to grow at 4 percent annually until 2015, at which time it could level off, then decline, Mr. Hartwig said.

Current enrollment is about 1,200 students in the two schools, Las Lomitas (K-3) in Atherton and La Entrada (4-8) in Menlo Park.

For more information, call the district office at 854-2880.