OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Students arrive at Dunkirk High School Wednesday morning.

Small schools across our region take advantage of New York state incentivized capital projects on an almost regular basis. Many of these districts, with less than 1,000 students enrolled, are making additions to already oversized facilities due to declining enrollments.

In Dunkirk, however, small steps have been taken after a major overhaul. Beginning in September, the district moved grades seven and eight to the high school while making the former middle school building for grades three to six. Obviously, this has made for tight quarters in a district with nearly 2,000 students — and about 900 in the Sixth Street facility.

During this week’s school board meeting, it was announced that three more classrooms are being added to the middle and high school. Tim Abbey, district buildings and grounds director, said the newly available classroom space will add flexibility and some separation between the youngest and oldest students in the building.

“This is about all we can squeeze out of the place,” Abbey said.

While that’s all well and good, if this model is the one going forward then Dunkirk administrators — and the school board — need to seriously consider a capital project that would include a possible new build to better fit the seventh- through 12th-graders.

Capital project such as this — as small schools understand so well — are highly incentivized, sometimes up to 95%, by New York state aid. Dunkirk is the second largest district in the county in terms of enrollment. Its current high school was built before 1970 — more than 50 years ago. This is definitely overdue.

As the manufacturing sector continues to grow in the north county, it is time that the school — through the addition of a possible new state-of-the-art building — become aggressive in its hopes and plans for the future of the city’s next generation. With space already at a premium, why not start planning now?