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78 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, October 12, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend October 10, 2004 Jim Finnegan teaches a class of sixth-graders at Jacksonville Elementary School recently. With 40 students, the class was one of the biggest in the Medford School District at the start of the year. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Medford has some big classes By hiring a few new teachers and moving people, big classes at elementary school level are under 40 By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune On the first day of school, Jim Finnegan’s sixth-grade class at Jacksonville Elementary was one of the biggest in the Medford school district. "There were 40 students the first day and no room for anyone else," he said. He was prepared to make the best of it for his 37 regular students and three drop-ins from a special education program on the campus. "You take what comes," he said. "You don’t panic and just do your job." Throughout September, district officials worked to balance class sizes and assign aides to make that job as easy as possible after budget cuts reshaped programs and eliminated teachers, educational assistants and child development specialists. Advertisement Prepared for some overloaded classes, the district had reserve funds to hire additional teachers as needed this fall. In the first weeks of school, enrollment fluctuates as new students show up and some registered students don’t arrive, so the added hiring didn’t happen until the second week of classes, officials said. The district hired four elementary teachers and one half-time kindergarten teacher in mid-September at Jacksonville, Wilson and Hoover elementary schools. Two other teachers transferred to Roosevelt Elementary, another school with super-sized classes, to help balance out class sizes, said Phil Long, elementary education director. With those adjustments, the district has maintained its average elementary class size at 27 students, roughly the same as last year, Long said. However, the district has trimmed the amount of time teachers’ aides will spend in classrooms to about 112 hours a day this year, down from more than 400 hours a day last year. Teachers and administrators spent much of the past month determining how to assign those assistants where they can do the most good. Overall, the district’s enrollment as of Oct. 1 is 12,759, down 95 students from a year earlier, Long said. Both elementary and middle school enrollments dipped, while high school enrollment rose. The added teacher at Jacksonville eliminated the need for blended classes that combined fourth- and fifth-graders or fifth- and sixth-graders. "My case was much relieved," Finnegan said. He now has 32 students, with three drop-ins. His fellow sixth-grade teacher, Riki Bednar, now has 31 students, with three drop-ins. She started the year with 26 sixth-graders and nine fifth-graders in a combined class. Long said several sixth-grade classes remain the district’s largest. Lone Pine has 36 and 37 students in its sixth-grade classes; Jefferson has 36 and Oak Grove has 34 and 35. The district strives to keep classes in primary grades smaller to allow more teacher interaction with students, but still has a Jacksonville first-grade class with 29 students and kindergarten classes at Wilson Elementary with 26 and 27 students. At the high-school level, only a handful of classes at each campus have more than 40 students. North Medford High School has seven classes with more than 40 students and South Medford High School has six, said Dan Zaklan, director of secondary education. Twenty-one of North’s 61 full-time-equivalent teachers work with between 180 and 199 students every day. At South, 19 of 50 full-time-equivalent teachers work with that many students. Eleven teachers at North and 13 at South work with more than 200 in a day. The Northwest Accreditation Association sets 160 students a day as ideal, Zaklan said. "This is going to be a tough year, but everyone is doing their best," he said. Back in Finnegan’s class, students are doing their best to get a handle on means, medians and averages for an upcoming test. Hands pop up as students question how to round off numbers. Finnegan cautions students to evaluate statistics and graphs carefully. "If someone tries to convince you with statistics, think twice or even three times," he said. "It’s easy to lie with statistics." Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities