As the Edison community becomes more diverse the number of students has drastically increased, and the current freshman class is the biggest in Edison High School history.

“Overcrowding means the hallways to get to the classrooms are a bit crowded, said Tanush Kulkarni ‘25. “On hot days like yesterday it poses some kind of a health hazard,” said Kulkarni. 

Of course, overcrowding affects multiple aspects of school life, including aggravation in hallways. Kulkarni also noted the sanitation effects of overcrowding. If more people use the facilities while the amount of times they are cleaned stays the same, there will be steadily dirtier bathrooms. 

Various solutions have been proposed by the BOE, including either building a new school or adding extensions to current school buildings. Both are potential solutions to the overcrowding situation with a new high school providing a long-term solution and more economically taxing and extensions providing a short-term solution at a decreased cost.

“Adding extensions to the current school is more of a temporary solution since the Edison population is still growing,” said Kinjal Vaibhav ‘25 . Many students agreed with the building of a new high school rather than the extension of EHS or J.P. Stephens. Despite the disadvantage of increased taxes, students believe in the long-term benefits of another school to relieve overcrowding. 

This poses the challenge of delegating resources to current students or future students. Short-term solutions that have been implemented to combat this problem include the addition of air conditioning to solve heat exhaustion in the cafeteria and the expansion of the auditorium. Yet, students are not the only ones affected by the situation.

“Obviously the district has taken steps to alleviate the tension in schools,” said Mr. Kevin Kerins ‘98, electronics teacher. “However, the strain on faculty and staff has been prevalent since the increase of class sizes,” said Kerins.

He mentioned the possibility of remote instruction to decrease the number of students in school. Extending and creating new high schools, Kerins said, “will be expensive and time-consuming as supply chain issues proliferate following COVID-19.” 

As the population of Edison increases, so does the number of students. These incoming classes have gradually gotten bigger and so has the discomfort of faculty and students.