By Jonathan Anderson
Staff Writer

Underclassmen outnumber upperclassman by 21 percent—a difference of 198 students. The school has not seen such a dramatic increase in enrollment in its 50 years. The larger class sizes have caused strain on the school’s existing resources. Additional lockers are needed. Increased student enrollment has caused the re-arrangment of schedules and the average class size to be increased.
According to Counselor Maryanne Smetzer, Principal Wynn Satterwhite has the situation under control. Satterwhite has hired new teachers and administrative staff. Also, classes have been filled to 32 students per teacher, the legal limit. The exception to this rule is freshman English classes, where the class size is regulated between 18 and 20 students per period.
Teachers are not the only ones feeling the pressure of larger class sizes. Staff increases at Los Altos have been needed to maintain facilities as well as administrative work.
“Two years ago, [counselors] were at the lower end of the spectrum [referring to the number of students per cousellor] and now we are pushed to our contracted limits,” Smetzer said.
Nevertheless, Smetzer was not worried about the increase in enrollment and refereed to the larger class sizes as a “blip on the radar.” The class of 2009 is much more similar to the class of 2006 with 390 students—smaller than both the classes of 2008 and 2007,
The influx in students continues to cause problems, and there is no immediate solution for these. Besides lockers, parking will become a concern, as the parking lot will not have enough space to accommodate the demands of a class of this size. Minor kinks in the scheduling system are a continuing problem, and accommodating a larger class size with limited space, time and teachers promises larger class sizes in future years.
“We’ll work it out,” said Michelle Bissonnette, an English teacher.
It appears to be a consensus among staff that although a change of 100 students is remarkable, the situation is not irreconcilable.