‘We’re starting to get cramped’: Growing enrollment at Belleville East High School prompts plans to renovate, expand [Video]

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — A Metro East school district has a good problem to fix.

School leaders say Belleville East High School is at capacity for space as enrollment grows.

The campus sits on 76 acres with 20 buildings plus athletic fields, making it one of the largest high schools in the area.

Belleville District 201 Superintendent Brian Mentzer said they’re happy to welcome more students, but with space quickly shrinking, it’s become challenging. 

“Last year, we graduated our largest graduating class in many years. We had roughly 630 graduates last year, which marks a significant uptick in enrollment. It’s a rather large increase over what we’ve had 10 or 15 years before,” the superintendent said. “When you combine it with a couple of other factors on …