Photos by Managing Editor Paul Bryant and Chandler Elementary School CHANDLER - Like three other campuses in the Brownsboro Independent School District, Chandler Elementary School has outgrown itself.

"Every room is full at this point," Principal Sonya McCoy said. "We’re just fortunate not to have had to add a portable building. With 477 students, we’re at capacity."

Brownsboro Elementary School, Brownsboro Junior High School, and Brownsboro High School are also at capacity with little to no room to expand.

Those three campuses are on adjoining properties west of the district’s administration building, with portable classrooms situated between the elementary school and junior high, and seventha n d eighth- grade stud ents walking to and from classes between the high school and junior high.

Brownsboro High’s campus appears to be the better of the elementary schools and junior high, but its athletic facilities are outdated and too small.

McCoy Chandler Elementary and Brownsboro Elementary are each over 40 years old, and have been expanded several times. While Brownsboro El- ementary cannot be expanded further, the school in Chandler can add classroom space on the north side of the campus. To do that, playground equipment must be removed.

But classroom space is not the only consideration at Chandler Elementary. The loading and unloading zone on the south side of the school regularly backs up traffic on FM 315 and causes conges- tion with school buses and other vehicles on the campus.

"Our biggest problem is the parking lot," McCoy said. "With almost 480 students, we typically have a lot of traffic during special events. It causes parking to be out on the road, and we have to use the parking lot at the Methodist Church."

In the afternoons, seven buses line up in front of the school at 3:10, and parents picking up their children must park their vehicles behind the buses, McCoy said.

"It’s sporadic until 3:45, and we have a parking area behind the building for kindergarten parents."

School-zone signs and flashing lights help slow traffic around the school, but many drivers often stop on the sides of FM 315 to load or unload their children.

"Fortunately, we’ve not had any accidents," McCoy said.

The school also needs storage space and more restrooms, and the number of entrances poses a security risk.

"One thing about our building is that we have nine entrances. We’re real accessible because we’re so close to 315. At the front office, we’d like to see visitors coming in."

The front office is near the school’s lobby, but a wall blocks employees’ line-ofsight to the main entrance.

And, as is the case at Brownsboro Elementary and Brownsboro High, Chandler Elementary’s cafeteria is too small.

"We start feeding at 10:30 and end at 12:30," McCoy said. "We have a class coming in every five minutes. The community would like to see us add on or have a new campus."

Over the last 20 years, the district has grown about 60 percent, and continues to grow 3 percent annually. Growth in Smith and Henderson Counties over the next 30 years is expected to be substantial, with the projected population in Henderson County by 2010 at more than 81,300. By 2020, it is expected to be over 90,000 and, by 2030, the population is projected to reach 100,000.

Much of that growth will happen west and south of Tyler and will include Chandler.

Texas School Planning Inc. is working with district officials and community leaders to determine which schools must be renovated, replaced or moved. A tax election in November 2010 would finance the project.