Tuscan School's overcrowding problem could prompt a rezoning of the school district to allow a more even disbursement of students, Superintendent Brian Osborne told Maplewoodian.

In response to concerns raised by several parents this week to the sharp increase in population at Tuscan, which has sparked several kindergarten classes there to be expanded, Osborne said the district may need to look at rezoning its schools.

"The big question before us here is whether to rezone or not rezone," Osborne said Thursday. "That is the issue. The [Tuscan] footprint does not seem to accommodate growth in the physical plan of the school. Did we make the right decision not to rezone this year?"

Osborne's comments followed our report earlier this week of parents raising concerns about overcrowding with Principal Malikah Majeed and planning to confront the school board with the issue at Monday's meeting.

"Mrs. Majeed alerted me to the concerns and I called the PTA president and she and I had a conference," said Osborne. "Prior to that notification I had not gotten any calls." Osborne said he has a meeting planned for Tuesday with Majeed, the PTA president and other school officials.

"I am more than happy to work with the parents on any concerns they have," he said. "I am aware of all of the numbers at Tuscan School and I also have faith in the community and the staff at Tuscan School."

Several parents said they hoped to get dozens of parents to show up Monday and tell the school board about what the overcrowding has done to everything from class size to lunchtime eating hours and playground discipline.

Those concerns followed Maplewoodian's report earlier this school year about how the population increase district-wide, which has added some 200 students to district schools, has affected Tuscan.

Among the concerns was the count of 24 students in four of the five Tuscan kindergarten classes, with 17 in the fifth class in a portable classroom.

Tuscan's population has grown from 594 students during last school year to 625 this school year, making it the most-populated grade school after South Mountain -- which has two locations. As the smallest square-foot school, that impact is felt more than ever. Tuscan also has 30 students zoned for other schools who have been allowed to attend Tuscan, the district revealed.

Tuscan has just 63 students less than South Orange Middle School, as shown by district population data below:

School                         2008-09    2009-10
CHS                            1815          1861
MMS                            718            734
SOMS                          655            686
Clinton                         462           488
Jefferson                      438           432
Marshall                       447           461
Seth Boyden                489            525
South Mountain             578           627
Tuscan                         594           625

As of Sept. 1, the district-wide enrollment is 6,437. That is up from 6,232 at the same date last year.

Osborne said that each year the district projects populations for the following five years. He said this year's projections were off as indicated by the number of students who have enrolled, 200 more than last year.

Tuscan has five, full-day kindergarten classes for its 113 kindergarten students. Last year, the school had 100 kindergarten students, with three full-day classes of 69 students and two half-day classes of 31.

The enrollment for kindergarten at Tuscan was originally projected at 87 for this year.

"The kindergarten classes in particular run at 24," Osborne noted. "We are determined it will not go over that. We are at a place at Tuscan School where we are diverting students at the kindergarten level. [two students were diverted to other schools in the district before the first day.] We are eager to get a refreshing of the enrollment projection."