Manteca High is now at 1,864 students

 — its highest enrollment ever.

The 103 year-old campus — based on current facilities — has a program capacity of 2,412.

But future phases of modernization that will eliminate aging and inadequate classrooms but not replace all of the space will leave Manteca High with a program capacity of 2,200 students.

That means Manteca High has room for 336 more students.

Sierra High’s enrollment is at 1,630 with a program enrollment capacity of 1,904.

That means Sierra High has room for 274 more students.

East Union’s enrollment is at 1,641 with a program enrollment capacity of 2,044.

That means East Union has room for 403 more students.

Between the three Manteca High school campuses, the district can accommodate 1,013 more students without undermining optimum educational programming.

The program capacity established at each school maximizes the physical classroom space identified for each unique instructional program.

Program capacity identifies the maximum number of seats according to the current educational program. This limits the number of seats in each class to the program in place (I.e., Special Education Classes, Resource Classrooms, classrooms held for support programs (speech, testing, IEPs, etc.).

Design Capacity is related to maximum occupancy and does not reflect the way schools utilize spaces.

Program capacity is aligned with educational program on an annual basis.

“Observing appropriate program capacity is crucial in ensuring all students have access to high quality instruction and learning,” noted Manteca Unified Chief Financial and Information Officer Victoria Brunn.

The district can add students beyond program capacity but in doing so optimum educational capacity would start to give way to simply cramming in more students.

East Union’s enrollment has essentially been steady for the past four years. It was 1,639 in 2018 compared to the current 1,641.

Given most of the residential growth has been south of the 120 Bypass, the Manteca and Sierra campuses have grown the most.

Sierra was at 1,429 in 2018 compared to 1,630 today. That reflects an increase of 201 students.

Manteca’s 2018 enrollment was 248 students less than it is today compared to 2018 when it was at 1,616 students.

The previous peak enrollment for Manteca High was in 2006 when there were 1,792 students.

However, Griffin Park on South Main Street with 1,301 approved lots, is within Manteca’s attendance boundaries and is being built by local developers. It may take longer to complete than those in the Sierra attendance area that have actually broken ground, but when Griffin Park is completed the housing numbers will  be roughly the same.

That said, both attendance boundaries have additional housing projects approved but yet to break ground.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email, dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com