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Bursting at the Seams

Cambridgeport searches for solutions to severe overcrowding

"There are times when I'll wander around the building needing a space," says first- and second-grade teacher Patrick Cunningham.

But Cunningham's assistant teacher says Cambridgeport isn't so crowded by comparison.

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"I'm from Philadelphia, so I'm used to this," says Sarah Lawentmann, who says she did her student teaching on a three-floor building that housed 500 or 600 students.

Wall to Wall

Physical education teacher Chris Anderson unhooks a sheet and welcomes 20 kindergartners to the gym.

Cambridgeport's gym has only three walls. Sheets are all that separate the open side of the gym from the hallway--and these sheets are not enough to keep balls from bouncing into the corridor.

Anderson says the gym is a dangerous place for students to play games. The gym doubles as a storage facility and after school-wide events it holds hundreds of folding chairs.

"The floor's warped and creeky," Anderson says.

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