Students squeeze through the halls, working their way from class to class, dodging open lockers and crowds of people, often slowing to a standstill as they approach hallway intersections. For many, the worst part is that this congestion is here to stay- unless the school board approves other methods, AHS will rise from 500 students over capacity to 800 in the next three years.

“The boundary study that they did this past year was just a band-aid on our overcrowding problem,” said Dean of Students Hassan Mims. “The school board needs to do a bit more before we can fix the problem entirely.”

While the hallways still feel crowded, AHS’s enrollment actually decreased by approximately 70 students this year. However, Mims does not believe that this drop is a direct result of the boundary changes.

“The decrease [in enrollment] is not directly correlated to the boundary change,” he said. “It may have had some impact, but there are many other factors going into it.”

The school, which was originally built to hold 2100 students, has had to make some adjustments to accommodate the growing class sizes. For example, the school now has several dozen trailers in the back parking lot and is in the process of building a multi-classroom modular as well.

“When all the construction is finished, we’ll have 40 classrooms outside,” said Director of Student Services Steve Sengstack. “That means that at any given time, we’ll have 1000 students outside the main building.”

One major problem with overcrowding has been that while the population has expanded, the school’s facilities have not.

“We still have the same number of bathrooms, the same size cafeteria and a gym that we can’t even have a pep rally in,” said Sengstack. “These problems result in longer lunch lines and wacky hallway intersections – facility issues that we can’t easily fix.”

Although the new modular will help with overcrowding within the building, it does not mean that any other trailers will be disappearing.

“What people need to understand is that the modular is not taking away any of the trailers,” said Mims. “All of the classrooms outside are here to stay.”

Sengstack believes that students may have caught a glimpse of how the school should be at the end of last year.

“After the seniors graduated and we were still doing underclassmen exams, we saw what the school would be like if we weren’t so overcrowded,” he said. “The hallways were much easier to navigate and the lunch lines were quicker.”

Students have found problems with the hallways as well.

“It seems like the hallways are much more crowded,” said sophomore Jenny Jessen. “I keep getting hit by really tall people who don’t watch out for the little people like me.”

As a result of last year’s boundary changes, referred to as Year 1 by many administrative officials, 141 students formerly in AHS’s district were switched to other schools. Of the students, 95 went to Falls Church and 46 moved to Lake Braddock, depending on where they live.

However, some of these students found ways to stay at AHS.

“Seniors, of course, were grandfathered in. Sophomores who could show that they were taking courses leading to an IB Diploma also had the option to stay,” said Sengstack. “Other students had to go through a case-by-case application process based on how well they would adjust to a new school and a number of different things.”

Students also could make small choices about what school they wanted to attend.

“If an incoming freshmen who had been redistricted to Falls Church really wanted to get the IB Diploma, they would have the option of pupil-placing into Stuart,” he said.

For now, the school simply has to cope with overcrowding.

“Class sizes will get a little larger as they years go on,” said Sengstack. “They’re predicting that we’ll be growing by approximately 100 students each year.”

The School Board is currently looking into further boundary changes to alleviate overpopulation at AHS. For more information, check www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/annandalestudy/index.htm.