A concerned parent at Westergard Elementary School says there are 40 children in their first and second grade classes there. There are two teachers in each class, part of a team teaching program, but she wants to know what the district is doing to get these classes down to a more reasonable size ?
I reached out to the school district more than a week ago to get some answers about this, and just heard back about an hour ago. Here's what the district has to say:
According to Dr. Jo Etta Gonzales, the area superintendent, they have put up some portable classrooms to help with overcrowding in other grades.
But Gonzales says the large class sizes are evidence of a population wave that is not expected to continue in upcoming classes. So they're hoping this is a temporary problem at Westergard.
Also, because it is a team teaching situation at Westergard, the classes are still within the acceptable student teacher ratios outlined by the state.
The district says other schools have put up portable classrooms and offered variances to students to help alleviate overcrowding.
This is a big issue obviously for many parents so we'll continue to follow up to see how the district is addressing it.
