Yelm High School’s 2+ year construction project is nearing an end. Quoting the Nisqually Valley News, “Currently, Yelm High School holds about 1,500 students. The new high school has capacity for 1,200, and will house about 1,100 when it opens, because the freshman class will relocate to the two middle schools in Yelm.”
HMMM! Let’s do a little math here:
A. Yelm High School’s capacity is 1,200 students, the 9th grade is no longer located there and 1,100 students will enroll in Fall, 2006 from 10th, 11th & 12th grades. That leaves room to grow for only 100 students, if my math is correct.
B. The City of Yelm’s asst. city planner Tami Merriman previously stated in the Tacoma News Tribune that 600 new homes will be built in Yelm on top of the permitted 1,200 Tahoma Terra development within 5 years from 2005. That’s 1,800 new homes in the Yelm city limits only, which does not include new construction outside of the Yelm city limits or the Thurston Highlands project, if approved.

Observation: if just one-tenth of each of the 2,000+ new homes in Yelm and the surrounding area have just one high schooler, how is the Yelm High School going to handle 200+ new students by 2010?
More portables?
More property taxes?
More construction bonds?
More operational levies?
HMMM?

Please leave a comment if you have the answer.