Rather than build new schools, teach students in shifts

Having read the articles in the papers and seen the photos of all the portable classrooms at Jackson High, I can’t help but ask if the school board has looked at other alternatives?

I grew up in Bremerton, graduating in 1942 from the one high school it then had. With the influx of workers to the Navy yard at the start of the war, schools grew very crowded, housing projects went up in both east and west Bremerton and the high school went to two shifts. A to K last names went from 8 a.m. until noon and L to Z went from 12:30 to 4:30 with five classes in each shift of about 45 minutes. I don’t recall how long this went on but we didn’t turn out too bad.

After the war with the G.I. Bill we became engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc., and the country grew. Eventually a new high school was built and the population stabilized. Perhaps a similar situation faces our current school board. Just building new classrooms is not necessarily the only answer. I intend to vote no.

Frank Leathley

Mill Creek