This year the school is 71 students over the 2,800 student estimated capacity. Upon Principal Dr. Jeffrey Stichler’s return in June, it was decided to add a portable on school grounds as a solution to the overcrowding until Timber Mill High School opens August 2027, which will rezone 500 students.
The portable located near the baseball field will be open to students and teachers after the boarding fence construction around it is complete. The date the portable will open is currently unknown.
“We have more teachers then we have classrooms now, we are growing very much,” Stichler said. “Until we had the portables we were going to have to put two teachers in one classroom and one teacher in the library so I’m glad we were able to get the portables.”
In 2008 the school had previously seen overcrowdment when Moorhead Junior High was a part of the school. The school today is now at 105% full capacity. The two room building was transported from Wilkinson Elementary to Caney Creek before school started after Associate principal Kathy Franklin told Stichler they were running out of room in the school.
“I requested them (the portable) and then they (district) approved my request and brought it over here,” Stichler said. “I like how we do it nowadays, where there’s a fence around the portables. I feel like it’s pretty safe, if we ever have bad weather then we’ll ask those students and the teachers to come into the school. We won’t have them out there if there’s a bad thunderstorm or something coming. So with the fencing and the way they do things now, I feel very good about using it.”
NJROTC Chief Donald Arms was one out of the two teachers relocated outside into the two room portable. Arms currently shares the classroom with Lieutenant Commander Raleigh Stahl until the fence construction is complete. Arms expressed that the change was exciting to him because his previous classroom location was next to the cafeteria.
“So I was pretty ecstatic about it (the portable) cause it puts all of my classes together because we have to be together quite a bit for leadership training and stuff like that,” Chief Arms said. “So instead of being so far away, we’re now going to be a lot closer, so it’s a pretty good deal.”
Freshman Alivia Supo who takes Arms’s introductory class said the change will benefit the class by reducing distractions.
“I was kind of glad about it, cause I feel like if it’s held outside in the portables then we might have more room to shoot,” Supo said. “We could probably put more targets up and do drill inside instead of outside when it’s hot or cold.”
Next year Dr. Stichler expects Caney Creek to have 10-12 more portables near the baseball field as the school continues to have more students enrolled.
“We have our 9th grade campus that will open in August of 2027,” Stichler said. “So it’s a good thing to have portables, it’s better then shrinking right? We want to grow. But once 2027 gets here all the portables will be gone for years.”
