The Palo Alto High School administration is planning to move as many as 90 students into three newly created freshman classes next week to help alleviate overcrowding, according to assistant principal Kimberly Diorio.

With some classes over their maximum capacity of 35 students, creating new classes will enhance students’ academic experiences, Diorio said.

“In the long run, it will be good for students because rather than being in a Spanish 2 class with 38 [students], they [students] are going to be moved to a class with 24 or 25 [students],” Diorio said.

While moving large numbers of students after school has started is not ideal, Diorio maintains that it is necessary due to the large numbers of kids in many classes.

“It’s never fun to have to move classes in the second or third week of school,” Diorio said.  “But once [the students] get over the initial shock of it, in the long run it will be better because they will be in a class where they will get more individualized attention and better instruction.”

This year’s freshman class is the largest in the school’s history with 498 students.  The increase in students has led to many classes reaching or sometimes exceeding their maximum capacities.

Diorio has been talking to some possible teachers for these new courses and plans to have them hired by Friday.  She hopes to have the classes up and running by Tuesday.

“By Tuesday, we’re going to have to move freshmen involuntarily to balance those classes and to get the numbers down,” Diorio said.  “We’ll try our best to make it the least disruptive to students’ overall schedules.”

Diorio wants to have all schedule changes finished by Back-to-School Night, which is Thursday, Sept. 8.

“Our goal is to get that done before Back-to-School Night,” she said.  “We really want everyone locked in by Back-to-School Night.”