63.0°,
A Few Clouds Congratulations, Madam President
School board reorganizes, lowers K-5 class caps
The Rockville Centre Board of Education held its annual reorganizational meeting on July 6, and reorganize it did.
In one of their first acts, members of the board elected new officers for the 2010-11 school year. Trustee Liz Dion took over from Mark Masin as president, Masin became the board’s secretary and Stephen Kriss will continue as vice president.
Trustee John O'Shea was also welcomed on to the school board, starting the three-year term to which he was elected. After the trustees and members of the administration, including school Superintendent Dr. William Johnson took their oaths of office, the board made quick work of the numerous appointments and resolutions contained in the meeting's 18-page agenda, approving them unanimously by acclamation.
Class caps lowered
During the regular meeting that immediately followed its reorganizational meeting, the board made good on a promise from the June 22 Public Work Session — it continued a discussion on class size with additional information on how other school districts handle it, and ultimately voted unanimously to adopt a motion to lower class caps to 25 across the board —from kindergarten through fifth grade.
As enrollment currently stands, the move affects only one class in the entire district — it will necessitate an additional 4th grade section at Hewitt Elementary School. But board members said there is space in each building should there be a need to create additional sections, and there is money in the budget to add the one additional teacher district-wide that the lower class cap now requires.
The move comes in response to a recent campaign by Hewitt parents for the lower class caps. But it is not a new discussion in the district: In the 2005-06 school year, the board changed class caps to 25 in grades K-2 and to 26 in grades 3-5. Prior to Sept. 2005, the caps were 25 for grades K-2, 27 for grade 3 and 28 for grades 4 and 5. A committee report, issued in 2004 recommended class caps of 25 in grades K-5, but the school board at the time chose not to follow that recommendation due to space limitations.
