Message from Board of Education President
Dear Parents,
The members of your Board of Education and Superintendent Elaine Aumiller have been reading and considering messages we have received regarding 5th grade sections at Lions Park School. I’d like to provide a little background, but I’ll start by saying that Dr. Aumiller will add a 5th grade section. While this is an administrative decision, she does have the support of the board to take this action.
In addition, we will be assigning two classroom aides to the 5th grade at Fairview where classes there will remain at 26 students. This is consistent with what these students had in 4th grade and there are no unused classrooms available at that building. We hope that the presence of classroom aides will alleviate the disparity in class size with Lions Park. These positions will be posted immediately and Lions Park 5th grade class lists will be released on Thursday. Class lists for the rest of Lions Park and Fairview will be released on Wednesday. Class lists for Westbrook will be released Tuesday (today) after 1pm.
Leading up to the referendum, “preserving class sizes” was a main objective of district leadership. After considering the feedback we’ve received, we agree that it’s reasonable for parents to assume that their child’s class would not grow from 22 to 27 students even though 27 in a class is consistent with past practice. The initial decision by administration was made in order to stay within the budget and staffing plan that the board approved last spring. Since then, enrollment numbers had already required adding sections in both 2nd & 3rd grades at Lions Park.
Please know that we tried our very best to put out the most accurate and complete information prior to the referendum, just as we have been working to improve communication with the public for the last 7 years that I have served on this board. Unfortunately, in terms of clearly communicating our class size guidelines and managing expectations of future class sizes, we fell short. The messages we’ve received have made that clear. I want to offer a sincere apology for this and the confusion and bad feelings that it caused.
At our next meeting, the board will discuss updating our policy language on sectioning/class size. This is always a function of administration, but the board can support them in this challenging task by establishing clear guidelines. Once we communicate the updated policy, the public will be better served and parents will know what they can expect going forward.
I want to thank everyone who took the time to send thoughtful, respectful messages to the board. Thanks also to the board members for being responsive, and to district administrators for their flexibility. Your board will continue to work hard to improve communication with the public, as it is vitally important to preserving trust with the community. We are very appreciative for the support that you showed for our school district by approving the referendum, and we are committed to being responsible stewards of the resources that you have entrusted to us.
I hope you and your children have an excellent school year! I know I speak for the entire board and administration in saying that we are very proud to serve such an excellent school district and this wonderfully supportive community.
Sincerely,
Joe Sonnefeldt
President, Board of Education
Posted: Tuesday, August 7, 2018