The hallways are packed, the parking lots are full, and the cafeteria is bursting. In a school of 2,021 students, overcrowding is a constant issue. As the year unfolds, many new strategies have been put into place to fix this problem.

Two of these strategies utilize other schools within the district. For the first time this year, Wenatchee High School Principal Eric Anderson said, several incoming freshmen have been encouraged to enroll at WestSide High School instead of Wenatchee High School. Last spring, he said, middle school counselors made recommendations to a handful of students that they may prefer the WestSide’s more individualized learning experience: 23 freshman made the decision to attend this fall.

Anderson said the Tech Center has also opened its doors to the ninth grade class. 52 students are following the traditional Tech Center schedule, he said, starting their day at the high school with core classes and transitioning to the Tech center in the afternoon; these outside opportunities provide alternatives to the crowded high school.

This year, five portables have been added to the existing five portables, with two more on the way. Cesar Mendoza, a science teacher, is the only occupant of the new portables. His class is in the only building that wasn’t acquired from Washington or Lincoln elementary schools, according to Anderson. The newly purchased room is both a classroom and a fully functioning lab; the space is seemingly ideal. “It has windows which is a huge morale booster,” said Mendoza, “It’s excellent, I can see Saddle Rock.”

The renovations on the six empty portable classrooms should be done by early October, according to Anderson, who is a member of the facilities committee. They will potentially be a temporary solution while the current building is being remodeled, he said. The building remodel could be a long-term solution for overcrowding, but Chris Ferrians, another member of the facilities committee, said a bond needs to be passed to obtain funds, which could take years to pass.

Anderson says when building a new school on district land was last proposed, there was concern that the needs of the current high school weren’t being addressed. He said the focus on the present building is also one of the primary reasons the school district decided not to attempt to acquire the former post office. This five-story, 100,000-square-foot building, will be deeded to a federal agency free of charge, reported the Wenatchee World. The building would cost $40-50 million to remodel, about the same amount of money it would cost to build a new building, another reason the School Board decided not to bid, according to Anderson.

“People think a new building would be an overnight solution,” said Ferrians. “The reality is that one: an overnight solution doesn’t exist, and two: if it did, we couldn’t afford it.”