CHS hallways become overcrowded with students during passing period. CHS’ population grew by approximately 300 students since last year and is projected to continue growing.

School board president Layla Spanenberg said the school board is beginning the planning phases for two new elementary schools in the Carmel Clay Schools district in a school board workshop meeting this Thursday. Spanenberg said the board will meet with architectural consultants to discuss building designs for the new schools using the most current building trends. One of the two new schools will be built near Carmel Elementary School while the other will be built on Clay Center Road. The schools are expected to open in the 2020-21 school year.

Spanenberg said the new schools are being built to address Carmel’s growing population, particularly on the West side of Carmel.

“(We’re building new schools) because Carmel’s population is growing quickly on the West side. We need a school on the west side to alleviate the stress at the schools there,” Spanenberg said. “(One of the schools) had to open another lunch line because there wasn’t enough time for kids to eat.”

Senior Andrew Sleugh said if Carmel’s school population continues to grow, elementary schools should split into separate institutions, but high schools such as CHS should continue to expand instead of splitting up.

“I think smaller schools like elementary schools should split if they run out of room for students because they are less resource-intensive than high schools,” Sleugh said. “CHS should continue to expand its size and not split because it would be weird for students to have their four year high school careers split apart.”