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District faces elementary overcrowding; community committee to recommend redistricting and reconfiguration options
Summary
Estacada school officials told the board that multiple schools are at or over capacity and a 23-member community committee will recommend reconfiguration or other remedies in spring 2025.
District leaders told the board on Feb. 12 that several Estacada schools are at or over capacity and the district has started a community-led process to identify options.
Superintendent Ryan Carpenter said River Mill Elementary School, Clackamas River Elementary and Estacada Middle School are at or near capacity; River Mill is operating with portables and the middle school may need portables next year. The district convened a 23-member community committee, led by Jennifer Berman, director of teaching and learning, to study five options for addressing capacity: maintain the status quo and add portables; redraw elementary boundaries (rebounder); reopen Eagle Creek Elementary; reconfigure grade spans (for example, K-3 / 4-6 or other two-campus models); or pursue changes aligned with the district92s prior bond conceptual plan, which included moving 7-12 into a consolidated campus and reassigning K-6 across other buildings.
Carpenter told the board the Summit Learning Charter School currently enrolls about 1,400 students at the Eagle Creek facility and that partnership brings roughly $2,500,000 in revenue to the district. That figure is being weighed alongside capacity trade-offs: reopening Eagle Creek would affect the charter92s home site and district revenue tied to the charter92s enrollment.
The committee is doing cost and feasibility work, Carpenter said, and has started to produce preliminary cost estimates. The superintendent said the committee aims to deliver recommendations in March or April, with a final decision hoped for by the end of the current school year; implementation would aim for the 2026-27 school year if the board approves changes.
Board members urged the committee to focus primarily on solutions that actually add capacity rather than only reshuffle students. Several directors cautioned that short-term measures such as adding portables can displace playgrounds and community athletic space. The board discussed, but did not adopt, placing a bond on the upcoming ballot; administrators said a modest short-term bond likely would not be large enough to fund major additions, and the committee92s cost work will be needed before considering any bond.
The district said it will present dollar estimates for each option as the committee completes its analysis.
