THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100311
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 64 lines
School officials have adjusted elementary class sizes to more evenly distribute the number of students assigned to each teacher.
About 600 of the city's 37,184 elementary school students were affected, and 13 teachers were reassigned, according to Joan Mason and Sheila Magula, the assistant superintendents for elementary education.
The class changes began this week and were based on enrollment data collected on Sept. 30 - when school systems record student population numbers for the state. All of the classes continue to meet or exceed state standards, officials said.
Students whose teachers were reassigned were distributed among other classes in their same grade and school. Thirteen classes at 10 schools were affected. The average student-to-teacher ratio for the grades affected before the transfer was 18-to-1. Afterward, it was 21.9- to-1.
Where teachers were added, the new classes were made up of students pulled from other classes in that grade at that school. Student-teacher ratios in the grades affected dropped from an average of 26.1-to-1 to 20.9-to-1 at the nine schools involved.
School officials say they refine enrollment numbers based on projections beginning the spring before school starts and continue working with the figures throughout the summer.
But the methods for predicting aren't foolproof, and enrollment divisionwide this year fell about 800 students short of projections, coming in at 76,815 students.
Complicating the class size equation is the division's participation in a special state program. It targets lowering the student-teacher ratio in kindergarten through third grade classes at schools that serve a significant percentage of students receiving free lunch.
Free lunch numbers are an indicator of poverty, which has been closely linked to academic achievement.
``We don't expect any more changes as far as classroom reductions,'' said Mason. ``With growth, we'll certainly be watching those areas and adjusting staffing as needed.''
While school officials say the goal of the move was to help balance class sizes so that all students would have a good experience, some parents say the changes have been disruptive and unnecessary.
Parents from one North Landing Elementary School kindergarten class staged a protest after finding out that their children's teacher would be moving. They say they are concerned about the students being affected now, but they also are worried that rapid growth in the area could mean another class will be needed before the year is out. In addition, some of the students were transferred into a class where the teacher will start maternity leave in a few months.
``They need to make better decisions from the very, very beginning. Thirty days in is too late,'' said Colette Tranchant, whose daughter was one of the kindergarten students moved into another class. ``To me, it wasn't good. This is their first formal education, their first experience with that. This wasn't a secure experience for me, let alone for the kids.''
Officials said they waited until Sept. 30 because those numbers are considered most reliable, and then acted as quickly as possible. They also said that they do not expect a surge of kindergarten enrollment based on last year's growth of five kindergarten students at North Landing.
``Enrollment really doesn't stabilize until Sept. 30. Adjustments are made all through the summer, but it isn't until September that we know what the actual numbers are in those classrooms,'' said Mason. by CNB