Rockville Centre splits elementary classes

One kindergarten section at Hewitt still uncertain

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The Rockville Centre Board of Education decided at its meeting on July 26 to split some elementary class sections in 2016-17, although one class remains uncertain.

District policy states that classes with more than 25 students are to be divided into two sections. Among the classes that will be split is the Riverside Elementary School kindergarten class, which will have 27 students this fall. The school’s second-grade class, which will have 28 students, will also be divided. In addition, the kindergarten class at Covert Elementary School, which has 53 students, will be broken up into three classes.

The status of the kindergarten class at Hewitt Elementary School remains uncertain, because there are currently 75 students in three sections. If one more child is enrolled, there will be four sections. The school board will make a final decision at the district walk-through on Aug. 30.

Chris Pellettieri, the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said the number of children in the divided classes would not be finalized until the walk-through. “I can’t say definitely how the principal would decide that split,” Pellettieri said. “I can just say that the [Riverside] class will split into two sections. They could do any combination for any reason possible.”

Earlier this year, parents of Riverside students complained about the district’s use of its Class Balancing policy for the kindergarten class. Under the policy, the district sends letters in June to parents whose children are enrolled in classes of 25 or more the following fall. If possible, it gives them the option to move their children to a different building where they will be in a class of 19 or fewer. But Riverside parents contended that the district contacted the parents at the AvalonBay apartment complex early, in late April, and asked them if they wanter to send their children to the closer Watson Elementary School instead of Riverside, where students from the apartment complex normally go.

Riverside parents argued that the school contacted AvalonBay parents long before anyone else was notified about possible school switching, in an attempt to use the Class Balancing policy to reduce the incoming kindergarten class to one section.

Amid their loud protestations — and after similar complaints from parents at other schools in years past — the school board decided on June 1 to suspend the policy, and to form a committee to examine it. The committee is still working and has not yet made any recommendations.

Riverside parent Michael Mulhall said he was thankful that the school board decided to split the kindergarten class. “I think the community is grateful that they reached what we think is the right decision for the students that are going to be part of Riverside school,” he said. “The benefits are for all of Rockville Centre … I’m glad that it appears to be a decision that everybody will be pleased with.”