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Schools

High School Students Dread Packed Stairwells as Classes Set to Resume Next Week

Concerns throughout Albany about overcrowding at the high school focus on high school stairs, which slow to a crawl between classes.

Getting to class on time at Albany High School can be a challenge for even the most determined students.

To deal with crowded stairwells that fill to a near-standstill between classes, students say they must strategize the most efficient routes in advance, and staff members say students must be intent on making it through the halls.

"If they leave class on time and have a mission to get to the next class on time, they'll make it no matter how crowded it is," said Dave DeHart, who's been teaching at the high school for 27 years. "It's very tight and it's very crowded in the hallways during passing periods, there's no doubt about it."

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DeHart, Albany teachers union president, said he doesn't consider overcrowding a problem in other ways. The union's contract, which limits teachers to 150 students per day, keeps class sizes manageable, he said.

There are a range of opinions about how to address space issues and how to set ideal student body sizes throughout Albany schools, but there seems to be one aspect everyone can agree on: the challenge posed by the elbow-to-elbow press of bodies that flood the high school's stairwells between classes.

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Rising senior April Yang, 17, compared the situation to the Solano Stroll. 

"You know, you look out over the street and there's a sea of people. You can't see the ground," she said. "In the middle of the stairwells, it's definitely like that. There's always sort of a current, going downstairs on the outside and going up in the middle. You can't really step out of the current or you're stepping into someone's zone of access. This is a serious problem."

April said she has to put a lot of thought into the fastest way to move between classes and floors, or risk being late.

"You always have to ask, 'Is it more efficient for you to go up the stairs and walk across the third floor, or walk across second floor and go back to the main stairwell?'" she said. "Climbing the stairs, you're moving so slowly, you're glad when you can go up one step sometimes."

Many teachers are understanding about the logistical challenges, April said, and some get caught in the snarl as well.

"Your math teacher may be in the same position as you," she said. "I had a teacher who had to to rush down from the third floor to the first to teach AP computer science. A lot of the students would beat him there. So teachers understand from their perspective as well."

She said, more than once, she's also seen classmates follow friends and even strangers into school elevators, along with students who possess a limited supply of elevator keys, which are available for people with special needs.

Lauren Jacobs, 15, will be a sophomore at the high school this fall. But she said news of the crowding problem reached her long before she started at Albany High. 

"I have a sister who attends Albany High. She totally warned me," Lauren said. "She said, 'The stairwell's gonna take you awhile. Basically: Hurry." Right after class, go to the stairs. If you're in PE, change really fast and get to the stairwell. I generally make it and sometimes you still have time to talk to people in the halls."

She described the "slow shuffle" up the stairs, but said she didn't feel it was dangerous. 

"It's terrible to get from the first floor to the third floor, it's absolutely crazy," Lauren said. "Even going from the first floor to the second floor isn't easy. The back stairwell is crowded, the front stairwell is crowded. It's pretty sad."

Crowding can be an issue inside the classroom as well, she said. In one of her classes, which began with nearly 40 kids, students had to squeeze past each other in the packed space to reach their seats. And some teachers can have trouble managing such full rooms, which can allow students to chat and catch up during class.

Amy St. George, a mother of two daughters at the high school and the PTA president, said one of her daughters doesn't mind the busy atmosphere, while the other one is "absolutely miserable."

"The oldest, it doesn't faze her at all. She thrives on the energy, the hustle bustle of the kids," said St. George. "My youngest is very fearful of going down the stairs during passing time. She waits at the top until almost before she's late so she can go down without feeling claustrophobic. If it works for teachers, and she doesn't get too many tardies, it's okay."

Students get five minutes between classes to get from one room to the next. For about two of those minutes, said Principal Ted Barone, "It's a traffic jam." 

"It is what it is," he said. "It does move. It's not dead stopped.... We've determined that students can make it without too much trouble if they are intent on making it."

Stop for a chat, though, and there's a good chance you'll be late, he said. 

Barone said the stairwells are "certainly a safety issue. How dangerous an issue, I really don't know."

The school holds monthly drills to make sure students know how to exit the building safely, within about 10 minutes, in an emergency.

"The kids know what to do and they're pretty cool about it," he said. "The Fire Department has been here during our evacuations and they've not been upset."

Editor's Note: Overcrowding, and its range of associated issues, means different things to different people, but many in the community—parents, students, officials and other residents alike—have an opinion on it. Albany Patch will continue to explore its effects in depth throughout the school year.

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