Elementary Classes Close to Projections, a Few Near Cap

After predicting that class sizes would not likely increase over the summer, district officials reported that the latest enrollment numbers for Katonah-Lewisboro elementary sections are higher than expected in some cases.

The largest sections are:

• Increase Miller fourth grade, two sections at 25-26 each
• Lewisboro Elementary second grade, three sections at 24 each
• LES fifth grade, four sections at 23-24 each
• Katonah Elementary first grade, three sections at 23-24 each
• Meadow Pond 5th grade, three sections at 25 each

Download a complete list of schools and class sizes, posted with this story.

In their first budget, defeated by voters in May, the school board had restored four elementary teachers cut in the superintendent's budget, after parents lobbied to keep the sizes close to the range of 15-20 recommended by a district task force on class sizes.

The board cut those positions from their revised budget—passed by voters in June—in  part based on enrollment adjustments indicating that most elementary classes would average 19-23 students, deemed acceptable by most board members.

Now the numbers have crept up, causing some concern, said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Roelle, but not enough to add additional sections.

"Grade four at Increase Miller concerns us," he said at the July 29 board of education meeting. "But we have lived with those numbers in the past and we are not recommending any changes [tonight]," he said, noting that the fiscal climate affected their decision.

Roelle also said numbers were higher than the district would prefer at LES and KES, and if a class grew to 26 students, the district "would be obliged to add a section."

Though a few individual sections rose in size, overall, the numbers are close to what they budgeted for, said Roelle. The district saw a drop in kindergarten enrollment, from 261 in 2009-10 to about 215 for 2010-11, continuing a trend of declining enrollment in the district.

Lynn Siegel, whose son will be in first grade at KES next year, expressed her dismay over the new numbers.

"You took out the fourth section when the first grade was at 66 kids, which was understandable. Now it's gone up 40 percent in a grade where class size matters most," she said, arguing that first graders lacked the independence needed to achieve in a large class. Siegel also suggested that savings recouped from teacher cuts would be lost, given the potential need for additional services to make up for a lack of in-class supports.

Twenty-four children in a class can be very difficult, said Sue Labriola and Lynn Mullaney, both parents of incoming second graders at LES. "We went from 24 to 25 students last the year, and their learning experience was impacted—reading was not evaluated monthly [as it was previously]," said Mullaney.

Roelle indicated that they would monitor enrollments, and if any classes district wide went above the district cap of 25, they would restore a teacher whose job had been reduced.

The decision would come prior to the next board of education meeting on August 26.