The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

The official student newspaper of Walter Johnson High School

The Pitch

Increased Enrollment at WJ Results in New Teacher Hiring

With its modernization finally complete, WJ now boasts new athletic areas, Promethean boards in most classrooms and the ability to accommodate a student body of 410 more students.

Before the school’s modernization, which began in 2006, WJ’s capacity for students was 1,990. After its modernization, WJ’s capacity is now 2,400 students.

With the school’s current enrollment at 2,173 students, compared to last year’s enrollment total of 2,060, the increased capacity is already being tested.

According to Principal Christopher Garran, the surge in enrollment is partially the result of many private school students transferring to WJ because of the economic recession. He also said that more upperclassmen than average transferred to WJ from other states.

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Garran, however, does not foresee any similar changes occurring in the near future.

“There is no reason to believe that what happened this summer, [the increase in student enrollment], will happen again next summer,” said Garran.

With its new enrollment total, WJ is now the third largest high school in the county, trailing Blair and Wootton. The increase of approximately 110 students is well above WJ’s average yearly increase of 50 to 60 students.

“Can you imagine if we had the population bump before the modernization of the school was completed?” said Garran.

Garran also said that even with the added enrollment, “the flow of the building [after modernization] is better for more students, because of how the building is built with better connections.”

Because of this increased enrollment, there were no lay-offs of teachers due to the economic recession, unlike at some schools. In fact, MCPS gave WJ the funds to hire a new English teacher after the school-year started because of this year’s dramatic increase in enrollment.

New English teacher Rebecca Robertson joined the WJ faculty on Sept. 7 to teach three sophomore honors English classes. Before coming to WJ, Robertson taught seventh grade reading and eighth grade English classes at a middle school in Utah.

Robertson’s new position at WJ has helped to alleviate the class sizes of other English teachers, which allowed for the combination and realignment of other classes. One class period of tenth grade honors English, one eleventh grade honors English class and one AP Literature class were also created. While these moves did cause some changes in students’ schedules, the overall outcome was positive, as the average size of English classes is now lower.

“To me, the switch wasn’t very disruptive at all, because I only switched [English] teachers,” said sophomore Jeffrey Clarke, a student who was transferred into one of Robertson’s classes during the second week of school.

“My English class is still during the same period, and none of my other classes were affected by the switch.”

While some students do not mind the changes occuring after the school year began, such a situation rarely happens.

“Never before for an enrollment reason has a teacher been hired after the school year started [during my time at WJ],” said Garran.

MCPS sets a limit of 28 students enrolled in one English class and 32 students enrolled in most other classes.

“When I was in Utah, there were up to 40 kids in one class, and 35 kids was about the average in each class,” said Robertson. “[The class sizes are] definitely better at WJ, where kids get more attention and it’s not such a struggle to keep track of them.”

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