Document text
Eagle Point class sizes in spotlight By Vicki Guarino EAGLE POINT -- Large classes, cramped buildings and a fast-growing enrollment are testing the limits of the city's two elementary schools. Glenn D. Hale and Little Butte schools have grown so rapidly that parents and staff are beginning to urge community action to end overcrowding. "We are really in a crisis situation," says parent and classroom aide Jeri Marlia. "We don't know what we're going to do, but we need to do something." Toward that end, Marlia is organizing a committee to figure out some short- and long-term answers to the schools' problems. About 60 parents and staff attended the group's first meeting last week, and Marlia is hoping for a larger crowd when the group meets next, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 25, in the Little Butte cafeteria. At Little Butte, a third-through-sixth-grade school, the stage is converted cafeteria seating to accommodate crowds, and classes reach 28 and 29 students. "That's really too many in a class," says Principal Sam Chimento. "At that size, the teachers really can't meet the needs of all the kids. The teachers feel handicapped." Younger grades next door at Glenn D. Hale are just as crowded in terms of meeting educational demands. Classes in the first and second grades generally have 27 students, says Principal Joni Parsons. "The research says the desirable number is 15 to 22 students," Parsons says. Enrollment at at Glenn D. Hale is 415; enrollment at Little Butte is 587. Both schools have shifted classes into portable buildings and plan to put more classes in those buildings next year. In the process, the schools will give up space that had been set aside for programs like art, music and special instruction. Parsons says she is considering putting a class in what now is the music room. She would give her music teacher a cart, and have him move from room to room. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do," Parsons says. Class size worries Marlia. "My son's first-grade class, where they are learning to read, has 27." Younger classes should be small, educators say, to make sure no one falls behind. Small classes are considered important at lower grades so that all students can learn the basics, especially reading, that they'll need to follow the more complicated lessons in the higher grades. A maximum of 18 students in the first three grades is one nationally recognized goal. Marlia says there is a sense of urgency about class sizes because the two schools have been overcrowded for some time. The stopgap measures like portable classrooms that administrators resorted to years ago are failing to keep pace. In addition, the schools are growing at a rapid rate. Both schools each have about 35 more kids now than last year. "We need an immediate solution," said Chimento. "The plans we have for next year may or may not be adequate." The long-term answer, says Marlia, appears to be a new school. Besides the crowding problems, the junior high across East Main Street from the elementaries has structural problems. Eventually, some building plan would have to be drafted that answers all of the building needs throughout the 4,000-student district. Short term, the community committee is considering changing the grade structure so that younger students would shift over to the junior high, and a redrawing of school boundaries. The enrollment boundary changes would put more students in the Eagle Point district's two White City schools, where enrollment has declined. District administrators tracking growth trends have noted that families are moving into Eagle Point from White City. Commonly, they had rented homes in White City, but now find homes they can afford to buy in Eagle Point. The homes these families leave behind in White City are not being filled by families with school-aged children. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA