HILLSBOROUGH: Class sizes adjusted in last weeks

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Class sizes were being tweaked through the last week before school begins.
At the Aug. 18 Board of Education meeting, it was announced that Woodfern School would see another section of second grade added. Parents came to the school board meeting in July to plea to keep class sizes small.
About 10 parents asked to have four second-grade classes, while the school was contemplating three.
In May there were 72 first graders in four classrooms at Woodfern — an average of 18. The school appeared to be on the way to having three classes for second grade — an average of 24 per class — until new registrants changed the equation.
The district policy is to aim for class sizes of 22 for kindergarten and first grade, and up to 25 for second and third.
Parents of Amsterdam School 3rd graders were upset this week by the uncertainty that adding a fifth class section a week before school’s opening appeared to bring.
Celina Pellicane said Tuesday the school sent out class lists and teacher assignments on Friday, and then later that evening sent an email to disregard because the school was adding another section because of an increase in enrollment. The added section would take average class size down to 22 from 26, she said she was told.
Ms. Pellicane said she and other parents called the central office and Principal Mary Ann Mullady and were told that interviews were being held for a teacher and that a room had yet to be prepared.
Ms. Pellicane said she thought the school should have prepared for the contingency much earlier, and she wasn’t confident a new teacher would be prepared in a week — especially with an intervening holiday — to begin teaching. Also, there is an open house on Tuesday when kids can meet their teacher, she said.
Principal Mullady and central office personnel told her to "have faith in our abilities," Ms. Pellicane said.
The school released this statement:
"Due to increased enrollment, an additional section of third grade was added at Amsterdam last week in order to start the school year with a lower class size," said Superintendent Jorden Schiff. "School administration had been monitoring enrollment carefully and anticipated this possibility. Plans were in place for both four sections and five sections. A teacher for the new section has already signed a contract and will be in the classroom ready to begin teaching on the first day of school. The district added the section to support its commitment of maintaining lower class sizes at the elementary level."