Carlsbad High School has seen a decrease in students ever since the opening of Sage Creek High School. Now that the school has their first graduating class, the school is becoming more populated. Their growth has ultimately led to fewer students coming here to Carlsbad.

However at first, it was not this way. After Carlsbad saw it’s initial decrease, more kids started coming back. But now, the numbers have slightly decreased again. These changes brought many changes to the population and class sizes here at Carlsbad.

“I think our max [in students] was somewhere pretty close to 3300, and were down to now between 2300 and 2400,”assistant principal Mr. Liebentritt said. “Our staff size went from around 114 staff (full and part-time) and now I believe were somewhere around 85.”

However, these are not the only changes our students have seen. This decrease in students has brought many advantages to the school including smaller class sizes, more personalized learning, and more parking spots.

“I know that the parking lot has more open spaces for juniors and seniors that are starting driving,” junior Lindsay Foster said.  “It’s [easier] to drive in and out so that makes it a lot better.”

In addition to those advantages, there are more for all students at Carlsbad, no matter what school you go to. The aspect of getting involved in school is very important, and through Sage’s opening this is getting easier.

“One of the advantages for all students in Carlsbad is now they have two different high schools,” Liebentritt said.  “So there are more opportunities to be involved and to have those opportunities.”

However, because Carlsbad High has always been the only high school in this district for some time, we have been able to grow and develop into a large community, but there are some disadvantages as well. Sage Creek allows for the advantages of a smaller school to big put into action at Carlsbad.

“Sometimes when there are 3300 students in a very compact area like this it’s just too many,”Liebentritt said. “It just feels overran, and students are much more anonymous in that setting. They just get lost.”