Brown County High School - Shadows Yearbook (Nashville, IN)

Page 7 text:

1 1Rd Mrl Pr GunkC' Share 3 U S- History class f°urI 1 period in the library: thus closing the library to other students. Overcrowding Cuts Classes One really tragic aspect of the overcrowded conditions was the reduction of class offerings over a period of years, because there was no room. Just to keep several advanced classes alive some foreign language and busi- ness teachers shared one class period with two different levels. Both classes of students suffered in these situations. Several classes were dropped com- pletely. Overloading classes, par- ticularly in the junior high, caused the teachers to have little time for necessary individual instruction. 5 Sacenf cafetm5 jUS' ° C °f fiW f°rCed to USe Ihe stage as a c!assroom while study hall meets in the

Page 6 text:

4 New School? Old Question! For at least seven years school boards of the County School Corporation of Brown County had decided to build and not to build a new high school. Teach- ers and administrators have made recommendations for at least three buildings, even going so far as to confer with an archi- tectural firm and to have final plans drawn in 1976. Several groups opposing these plans halted them and the board decided to name a committee to study and determine what the real needs of the school system were. In the summer of 1977 this committee of concerned citizens finally decided the most feasible course of action would be a new junior high school. The location of this building on the present school site of BCHS and Nash- ville Elementary School was vetoed by the state's division of school house planning. Further action was delayed by a class action suit filed against the school board in the fall of 1977. The answer could not please everyone, but one fact remained definite. BCHS was bursting at its seams. With 40 students and less than 40 operable typewriters, this class has an apparent overcrowding problem. BCHS: the school constructed to house approximately 800-850, now has an enrollment of over 1100. Some classes find the need to expand classroom space by moving doors, as is the case with this industrial arts class.

Page 8 text:

Classes Meet Everywhere Classes were held in almost every available space during every available hour. The absence of one of the three mobile units caused the school to seem more crowded, even though figures showed enroll- ment to be down just slightly. No one liked to think about los- ing one or both of the remaining units. Very few places were left to hold classes. The library closed half the day for five classes to meet: two being taught together as team teaching two periods. Students who wanted to use the library in the afternoon could not. The library confer- ence room, the librarian's office, and the audio-visual room were used quite often by the school reading aides, the speech thera- pists. and visiting college repre- sentatives to name just a few. The stage was in constant use except during lunch when the noise of the cafeteria would make it impossible for the teacher to be heard. As condi- tions stood, the classes that met on stage had to find somewhere else to go during the final week of production for a play. In addition the noise from the band room provided another distrac- tion for the classes on stage and the study halls in the cafeteria. Quite a few teachers were ham- pered in their efforts to hold class because they did not have a regular classroom. Teachers, like Miss Virginia Young, who have spent years in the Brown County schools, had to travel from room to room to meet with their stu- dents. One of her classes was even held in the library, which had no adequate blackboard. Too many cars crowd the parking lot during the early days of school, causing local merchants to complain about students using town lots and students to com-| plain about the need for more parking spaces and less grass. No longer can the entire student body fit in half of the gymnasium; now during all school convocations the junior high has to sit across the floor.