Parents worry about school overcrowding

The Naomi Shemer Elementary School in north Tel Baruch will become the most crowded school in Tel Aviv, which has sent parents into a frenzy.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Some 140 new students are expected to join the 533 already at the Naomi Shemer Elementary School in north Tel Baruch in the coming school year, making it the most crowded school in Tel Aviv and sending parents into a frenzy of anxiety, reports Yediot Tel Aviv. Parents say the already crowded school needs to open four extra classes for all the new students, and it simply does not have the infrastructure to house them. According to the report, parents are worried that the city may redistribute the school district to cater for the influx and move some children out of Naomi Shemer to other schools. "The city says it will change the enrolment districts to move students to neighboring schools. This will cause a war for every place at the school," one parent said. A group of parents said that rather than doing this, the best solution would be to move a preschool currently on the school's grounds out to another site, possibly the Home Front Command offices next door. "The four kindergarten classes should be evacuated for the benefit of four school classes," one parent said. But a municipal spokesman appeared to dismiss the idea entirely. He said that if there was not enough room at the school for all the neighborhood's children, the surplus would be sent to the Al-Harizi school in east Tel Baruch or to another school of their choice.