“It needs to happen,” Permian Cross Country coach Hilberto Ochoa said.

The Ector County Independent School District (ECISD) will be holding a vote to pass a bond for 3 new schools (1 middle school, 1 high school, and a conversion of Ector middle school to a High School ) Nov. 7.

“It needs to happen and it needs to pass,” Ochoa said. “There’s already overcrowded schools and it’s only going to get bigger.”

AP World History teacher Brian Richards also weighed in.

“We badly need more schools,” Richards said. “The school we have now is overcrowded.”

According to the district, grades and test scores in the district have been below expectations. However, with the new schools mean less people in classrooms, which might mean more one-on-one interactions between students and teachers.

“Fewer kids in classes will mean a better learning environment. We need to think of the education needs for this community,” Richards said.

Most teachers were in agreement that smaller class sizes would improve grades.

“All the research say that smaller class rooms enhance learning and that there is a difference between having 35 kids In a class compared to 20,” Ochoa said.

Overcrowded schools such as Permian and Odessa High have shown behavioral issues.

“Behavioral Management will be better since there is less kids,”  math teacher Sam Brown stated. “There will be more structure to monitor kids being there’s not that much kids in the hallways. That will definitely help with behavior.”