District still trying to solve overcrowding at La Crosse elementaries

Board and officials continue to try and find solutions

Talks are still ongoing about overcrowding problems at some of the La Crosse School Districts elementary schools.

Officials and school board members continue to meet about the 290 new elementary students that have come on in the last couple years with no place to really put them. And, no new facility in the near future, either.

“I think it’s 8-10 years before we might see any activity with that regard,” Superintendent Randy Nelson said. “But we still have some these other challenges that we have address in the meantime, before we would ever bring back an all-request for another new facility along the way.”

The overcrowding can be problematic when it’s not so much the kids themselves, but just the space.

“Some of the behaviors that you might see in another school that’s not as big a deal, actually become a bigger deal in schools when it’s tight,” Nelson said.

The overcrowding has spilled into classrooms that aren’t really classrooms. Rooms that are cramped and never designed for educational purposes, Nelson said.

Last month, the school board rejected a plan to move Coulee Montessori students to the administration building and the administration to the TCI building on Hwy. 16.