OAK PARK BRACING FOR CLASS CRUNCH; ENROLLMENT EXPECTED TO BALLOON.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

The Oak Park Unified School District is searching for ways to handle an expected 4.6 percent increase in enrollment by September.

Enrollment in the district's six schools could increase by about 147, pushing the total number of students to 3,358, said Martin Klauss, Oak Park's director of business and administrative services.

``The community continues to grow,'' Klauss said. ``We have young families in the houses.''

To meet increasing enrollment, the district is buying portable classrooms and hiring additional teachers to handle the overload.

The district is in the process of developing a master plan for the next five years to deal with the anticipated students, Klauss said. The real crush of students is expected three or four years down the road, he said.

Part of the increase can be attributed to the young families, while the Regency Hills housing development can account for much of the rest, Klauss said.

The development is expected to bring 315 new homes to Oak Park. The four-phase project is about halfway complete, with grading just beginning on the final two stages.

District officials project that each new home will mean one new student in the school system. Because of booming home sales and the good economy, the district anticipates the students arriving as soon as the homes are ready.

Ironically, the school district may be a victim of its own high quality. The schools' string of blue-ribbon and distinguished-school designations brings young families into the area in droves, especially from the San Fernando Valley, said Marvin Kapelus, a partner at Oak Park Realty.

``The big draw here is the school district,'' Kapelus said. ``Seventy percent of (prospective buyers) have heard that the school district is excellent.''

That, combined with a low crime rate, community atmosphere and good job opportunities, attracts young families, he said. The realty office has had inquiries about Oak Park from as far away as England and New Zealand, Kapelus said.

Many of those selling their homes and moving out of the community tend to be older families, he said.

Klauss said that Oak Park High should be large enough to handle the incoming students, but Medea Creek Middle School especially could be faced with an overcrowding crisis.

Solutions include adding more portables or building new classrooms, although permanent structures come with a significantly higher price tag, he said.

The cost to add nine permanent classrooms at the high school would be about $1.5 million, Klauss said. Nine portables could be added for just $450,000.

To comply with statewide class-size reductions, the district has added 12 portable classrooms in the last two years. The district now has 41 portable classrooms.

According to the district, Brookside Elementary, Red Oak Elementary and Medea Creek Middle School are expected to exceed capacity by the middle of the coming 1998-1999 school year, with the potential for additional crowding in the next few years. In anticipation of the crunch, the board approved the preparation of two portable classroom sites for the coming year, one at each school.

A second site will be prepared at Medea Creek for a future portable classroom as the need arises.

On Tuesday, the Oak Park school board voted to spend $184,950 this summer to buy three new relocatable classrooms for Medea Creek Middle School and Brookside and Red Oak elementary schools. An additional $25,000 will be spent to refurbish three portable classrooms at Oak Park High School that have been used for storage for several years.

The three classrooms at Oak Park High will receive new paint, carpeting, furniture and ceilings. Those classrooms, as well as the new portable rooms, all will be cable-wired for computers and television.

Security systems will be purchased for each of the new portable buildings.

ENROLLMENT

Following are current and projected enrollment figures and the number of existing classrooms at schools in the Oaks Park Unified School District:

Brookside Elementary: 541 current students/578 projected students/27 classrooms.

Oak Hills Elementary: 547/540/23

Red Oak Elementary: 571/598/26

Medea Creek Middle School: 762/792/31

Oak Park High: 732/805/37

Oak View High (adult continuation) 58/45/4

Total Total: 3,211/3,358/148.

CAPTION(S):

Box

BOX: ENROLLMENT (See text)