By Heather Graves
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – The school board reviewed class sizes throughout the district and had a lengthy discussion about what changes may need to be made at its meeting Monday, Sept. 16.
John Magas, associate superintendent of Continuous Improvement, stressed the update presented to board members was just a preliminary snapshot of the district’s current class enrollments.
Magas said these preliminary numbers are in flux and many adjustments are still being made, especially at the secondary level.
“This is the most current information we had when we were preparing the report (Tuesday, Sept. 10), but it doesn’t fully represent the current reality or the third Friday report reality.”
The official third Friday enrollment report will be calculated Sept. 20.
The data contained in this report will also be reported to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
Magas said those numbers will give board members a better grasp on the current numbers.
The district board policy on class size currently says: “Class sizes for individual buildings and programs are determined by the School Board acting on recommendations from the Superintendent of Schools and Learning after considering input from other interested parties and organizations.”
More information on the specific numbers throughout all levels can be found on the district’s website after a search for class size procedures.
Board Vice President Andrew Becker said he was concerned with the policy.
“I think it’s not OK to have such a loose policy,” Becker said. “Although I do think there are times where maybe there could be exceptions, and maybe there should be a rule that exceptions come to the board for approval.”
Magas said managing class sizes within the district is a balancing act.
“When people schedule, they do try very, very hard,” Magas said. “It’s a complex process and it is something that people put a lot of time in and it can kind of be like a puzzle.”
Initial staffing decisions were made in the spring based on student requests, enrollment projections and estimates of projected revenues and expenditures.
“I think that it is really important to think about what drives our decision making,” Magas said. “Spring data called for a 2 percent reduction in district expenditures – overall as a district, not just staffing. But as we’ve expressed before, staffing is one of the largest expenditures of the district, and so when it says 2 percent, we have to look at all there is, including staffing.”
Magas said there is $2 million budgeted to address anticipated staffing hotspots that emerge based on enrollment shifts and student need.
He said more than $1 million of those funds are already being utilized with additional staffing – including teachers, counselors and support positions.
District staff said there are four open hires being processed right now.
“It seems to me that if there was an effort to make a serious dent in these high class sections – focusing first on the core academics – I would think you would have or certainly know that a lot more than four people are going to have to be hired,” Becker said.
Many board members were concerned with some of the numbers being reported – especially at the middle school level, with some classes running with more than 30 students.
Trustee Kristina Shelton expressed concern over the number of students in middle school physical education classes.
“PE in middle school – nothing comes close to the number of classes, there are 57 classes of PE with more than 30 students in the class,” Shelton said. “That was quite alarming to me. The next closest is social studies with 35 classes. That is incredibly challenging. When we think about policy and how policy drives practices, it is something I would like to consider as a board.”
Board member Rhonda Sitnikau agreed with the need to address the high class numbers in physical education classes.
“I think it is definitely a sooner than later that we address these,” Sitnikau said. “That seems to be an almost immediate need.”
Magas said it is staff’s aim is to reduce as many high class sizes as possible.
District staff plans to come back to the board with updated numbers in October.