WESTBROOK – A sign in Saccarappa Elementary School welcomes visitors to its “Cafemusicartitorium” – the name given in jest to the small room that serves as the school’s cafeteria, auditorium and music and art classrooms.

The combined room gives an idea of the compromises the school has had to make this year to accommodate the 319 students in kindergarten through fourth grade, and those space issues are raising concerns among parents, worried that their children aren’t getting adequate attention in areas like physical education, music and art.

“This is a huge concern for me as a parent,” said Holly Martin, parent of a kindergarten student at Saccarappa, Tuesday. “Are the kids getting proper education? And are they safe?”

The school is essentially bursting at the seams with no rooms for art, music and gym and no space to grow should student enrollment continue to climb. Opened in 1953, Saccarappa Elementary School was operating with around 15 classrooms of kindergarten through second grade students until reconfiguration in 2012, when grades 3 and 4 were added.

Martin was one of more than 40 parents who came out Monday night to hear the administration’s plan to fix the space problem. That plan has two potential phases. In the short term, portable classrooms would be added for art and music classes. In the long-term plan, the school would expand, but no one is sure by how much until after an architectural firm consults on the expansion. Architects will visit the school on Sept. 18. Superintendent Marc Gousse declined to name the firm until it is hired by the school board, which is expected to happen on Sept. 11, after the American Journal’s deadline.

An architectural plan is needed if the district applies for grants or funding from the state to expand both Saccarappa Elementary and the Middle School.

The actual classrooms in Saccarappa Elementary School, on Huntress Avenue, are large and some even contain bathrooms, but no separate gym, cafeteria, music and art room, auditorium and extra work and storage space.

Other concerns were raised during the meeting including the future of the school and the issue of children eating in their classroom. Principal Brian Mazjanis said the “gymacafetorium,” as it was called last year when the room served as a gym, cafeteria and auditorium, was too loud and generally wasn’t working for students to eat lunch in the room. The room still serves food, but students eat in the classroom and carry their trays back and forth to the lunchroom.

“The cafeteria wasn’t working well for us anyway. There are 20-foot-long tables and if you have 20 students on the bench seating, they bump into each other and spill on each other,” Mazjanis said. “For the most part, the students say they like eating in their classrooms better. It’s calmer, better.”

While parents agree the quieter space is nicer, they still say their children are missing out.

“It was such an issue last year being packed in that small lunchroom. It was out of control and noisy. Even when everyone’s whispering, it was loud,” said Karen Kullman, a mother of two students at Saccarappa. “My kids actually like eating in their classrooms because it’s quiet, but the part they don’t like is they don’t get to see their friends or get out of the classroom for a change of scenery. It’s hard to stay in a classroom all day except for recess.”

This year, the cafeteria is used mainly for an art and music classroom after that classroom was needed for a fourth kindergarten room. There are no more empty rooms. Many programs like special education, therapy rooms and English Language Learners use old closets or have classrooms cut into pieces by cubicles. There is no longer a gym at the school, so once a week students are bused to one of the other two elementary schools for their physical education class.

“I feel the worst for music and art. We need more space, but the quality hasn’t gone down even though the environment is not what we want. We schedule people on opposing schedules so they can share space and we’ve gotten really good at whispering,” said Stefanie Dobben, an English Language Learners teacher at the school.

Mazjanis echoed Dobben’s statement, saying the school needs more space but teachers have gotten creative to ensure students don’t suffer.

Gousse said the Westbrook Middle School, which opened in 2010, also is running out of space. At the time it was built, Gousse said, there was a plan in place to add an additional six classrooms on the top level of the building, but the classrooms weren’t completed. He said when the school was being built, administrators projected for larger class sizes. Those projections are being reached and surpassed with the enrollment of 792 students, 231 more students than two years ago. The fifth-graders account for 184 of those students.

He said the top floor is ready to build those classrooms now, with plumbing and water hookups.

Gousse also suggested in the next year, the administration may tweak the two-year-old redistricting plan, in an effort to find a more balanced split among students attending the three elementary schools.

Two years ago, the community voted to close Prides Corner Elementary School, the fourth elementary school in Westbrook. The closure was recommended because the building was old and needed millions of dollars in repairs to keep it open for the 2012-2013 school year, and even more money to keep it functioning in years to come. The school department reconfigured the remaining three elementary schools, Congin, Canal and Saccarappa, into kindergarten to fourth grade. Fifth-graders began going to the middle school.

At the same time, kindergarten enrollment jumped above projected figures and forced some of the elementary schools to add another kindergarten classroom, which administrators weren’t expecting. Two years ago, enrollment for kindergarten was around 190. Last year, enrollment was 214. It’s hovering around the same amount this year.

Saccarappa, said Mazjani, “really is a great building. It’s a shame the teachers and learners don’t have more space to spread out.”

Students at Saccarappa Elementary School sit in the closed-off section of their “Cafemusicartitorium” last week to practice for music class.