Over the last five years, the student population at Legacy has increased to 2,550 students. From rearranged classes to reduce class sizes, administration, teachers and students feel the effects of more people on campus.
There is a 60-student increase from last year. While sophomore, junior and senior class sizes remain similar to previous years, the incoming freshman class nears 750 students–100 more than any other class, and about 50 more than last year’s freshman class.
“Of the Mansfield schools, we’re the third largest,” Ms. Misti Houston, PEIMS Clerk, said. “Normally, [the freshmen] always ran the greater number, but not to this extent.”
Along with the return from COVID homeschooling, new homes and apartments built in the area largely contribute to the increase in students on campus. By square mile, Legacy serves the largest attendance area in
MISD, however, all Mansfield ISD high schools have similar population increases.
“A lot of the families that are moving into those houses have older kids instead of younger kids,” Dr. Stephanie Bonneau, principal, said. “It really affects us more at middle school and high school than it does at our elementary grades.”
Coming from a middle school with about 800 students, to a high school with nearly 2,600 students, the transition from middle to high school can be a challenge for students.
“I think more people are transferring and returning, so there’s some overcrowding, for sure,” freshman Katie Keating said. “My Spanish class is my largest class. There are 37 kids. It’s really loud and really hard to get anything done because it’s hard to manage a classroom of almost 40 kids.”
Because of the increase in freshmen, this is the first year since Legacy has been open that every instructional classroom is in use. Dr. Stephanie Bonneau, principal, works with staff to create more seats in classrooms.
If the student population continues to grow at the current rate, about 3,000 students could be enrolled at Legacy by the start of the 2026 school year. While this is the first time all classrooms have been occupied, Dr. Bonneau plans to introduce new teaching positions in order to regulate large class sizes.
“[Student growth] won’t affect class sizes. The first thing that would happen is our TCC classes wouldn’t have dedicated classrooms anymore. Those would be converted into regular classrooms,” Dr. Bonneau said. “We would get additional teachers based on student enrollment, so [teachers] don’t have more kids, we’d have more [staff].”
The last time Legacy reached this population, Lake Ridge opened the next year, lowering the population by 400 students. As a last resort, Dr. Bonneau looks to introduce ‘rolling teachers,’ where teachers float in and out of classrooms in teachers’ off periods, in order to serve students without the need for portables.
“It’s not easy, and it’s not a best-case scenario,” Dr. Bonneau said. “It is better than being in a portable. That’s where we are headed, but there’s ancillary issues with that too. Every time our student [population] grows, everything grows.”
The 2017 MISD bond website projects a 28% increase in high school students district-wide by the start of the 2025 school year. This increase is attributed to the nearly 17,500 single and multi-family homes, as well as townhomes, under construction in Mansfield and surrounding communities. Though Mansfield ISD has confirmed the need for high school six, the process to plan and vote on a bond, as well as the construction of the building, will take several years.
“We’re at capacity,” Ms. Houston said. “We almost need another high school.”
