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BP school board discuss smaller kindergarten class sizes

By Cara Host for The Almanac writer@thealmanac.Net 2 min read
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The kindergarten class sizes at Ben Franklin Elementary are a bit larger than the other schools in Bethel Park.

One school board member suggested adding a class to alleviate the problem, but other board members questioned whether it was a problem at all, or just a normal enrollment fluctuation, which is an inevitable consequence of having five neighborhood elementary schools.

School director Ken Nagel said the state’s largest teachers’ union, Pennsylvania State Education Association, recommends kindergarten class sizes of no more than 18 children for the elementary grades. Franklin’s kindergarten classes have 22 to 23 children.

“I’m concerned, especially when you consider the nature of kindergarten,” Nagel said at the school board’s May 15 committee meeting.

Franklin has three kindergarten classes, one in the morning and two in the afternoon. One of the school’s teachers only works half day, but if the district would switch that position to full time, and split the kindergarten students into four classes, each class size would drop to 17 to 18 children, which is more in line with other elementary schools in the school district, Nagel said.

Superintendent Joseph Pasquerilla said he and other administrators will monitor the enrollment figures between now and the start of the new school year to determine if an additional kindergarten class is needed. But at this point, he said the class sizes at Franklin are appropriate so he does not recommend any changes.

School director Barry Christenson noted that Bethel Park has a better student to teacher ratio than many neighboring school districts. Plus, instructional aides and other support staff can help alleviate some of the workload and provide students with one-on-one instructional time, he said.

School director Jim Means said if the enrollment figures at Franklin are really out of line compared to the other elementary schools, redistricting might be the best option.

“But no one wants that,” he said.

At the regular meeting May 22, the school board is expected to adopt a final budget for the 2018-19 school year. Leonard Corazzi, the district’s finance director, said he continues to revise the spending plan, but the tax rates should remain the same. The budget stands at $86.98 million, which represents a spending increase of about 2.7 percent over this year’s budget.

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