It seems everyone wants to attend Cullman City Schools — and that attention is turning into both a blessing and a curse.

With East and West elementary schools near capacity, the city school board is looking closely at what can be done in the coming years to deal with a continued increase in enrollment. The system has always been popular amount out-of-district students, though the amount of county children being admitted has dwindled to just a handful per year, as an influx of city students have begun to fill those slots.

The growth is projected to continue in the coming years, largely due to annexation for new homes and subdivisions, as well as new businesses attracting more families to the city. Current estimates show the elementary schools already 170 students above capacity, with that number expected to climb to 275 in the coming years.

Finding a way to deal with future growth is a key component of the system’s 2016 strategic plan, with the board eyeing plans to address current student growth needs and develop a strategy to address future expanding needs. What shape might those plans take? From a full-scale reconfiguration of the feeder pattern across all schools, to the addition of a new sixth grade building, superintendent Dr. Susan Patterson said every option is on the table.

“We’ve had some great growth, but it has also caused some problems,” Patterson said. “Put simply, we’re running out of room in the elementary schools, and they’re already over-capacity. With all the new housing developments going up, that’s something that’s only going to continue to rise, and we’ve reached the point where we have to do something.”

Though rumors abound claiming the board is set to roll out a reconfiguration of the elementary schools, splitting the campuses by grades instead residential area, Patterson said no decisions have been made at this time — and nothing will happen until they’ve held public meetings to get the community involved in the decision-making process.

“The rumor that we’re reconfiguring things next year is not true,” she said. “We want that community input as we try to figure out the feasibility of all the options.”

Patterson said they’re already working with the faculty at East and West to see what they would recommend, and whatever solution is eventually reached, it will almost certainly involve new construction to add some additional classroom space. It’s just a matter of figuring out which campus makes the most sense, and how it will affect the feeder pattern.

“Right now, we’re looking at having to build some type of structure, somewhere,” Patterson said.

To that end, officials are also in the early stages of determining where funding could be freed up to take on the expected debt service from new construction for the elementary needs.