Email from Kristi Anderson, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005:

I met with Sheri Williams yesterday. She stated that she is requesting a 1/2 time teacher for Crest View based on yesterday’s 2nd grade student count of 89 students. I see this as some progress, though ultimately I would prefer this to be a full time position. We spent a lot of time discussing the following:

There are currently 90 children in Kindergarten. In the past 5 years class sizes have increase by 6-13 students when they reach first grade. Do we have the space at Crest View to accommodate these prospective new students? Can this happen while still providing reasonable class sizes for the rest of our students?

The increase of 6-13 students per year was taken directly from the 2004 School Profiles publication. Sheri and I went through these numbers year by year. She confirmed that these are correct. We discussed the impact 5 rounds of first grade would have on Crest View. First grade will have priority over small class sizes and class space. Kindergarten will also have priority and we will not have even a glimpse of how many kindergarteners will be coming Crest View’s way until spring. Small K-1 classes are the school districts policy and it is very appropriate. This will put enormous pressure on our ability to find classroom space for our currently crowded 2nd and 4th grades. Not to mention that 3rd grade with 85 students is not that far behind. We discussed that double wide portables are used at other schools in the district. From what I hear these portables are actually larger than some of the classrooms at Crest View. We need to keep the whole school in mind as we address the needs of our 2nd graders. Sheri was very positive about the type of planning that could occur this year in case Crest View receives the worst case scenario as far as next years enrollment numbers. I am excited about the prospect of advance planning so that we do not end up in the same boat next year of scrounging for space. If this planning does not occur this year we could wind up with exceptionally large class sizes in the upper grades with only para pro time for help. While I appreciate para pro time it does not make up for small class sizes.
Kristi