January 31, 2006

Pack them in, it’s not a crowd

City’s elementary schools are using all available space

By Jennifer Squires
Ashland Daily Tidings

Blenders teacher Mark Sherbow talks to his class this morning at Walker Elementary School. Orville Hector | Ashland Daily Tidings

Class sizes in Ashland’s three remaining schools are actually below 2004-05 levels, even with one less open elementary school.

The average elementary class size was 23.7 students a year ago. Classes at Bellview, Helman and Walker schools average aroud 22.4 kids per room this year, according to enrollment figures released by the school district in the fall.

When Lincoln Elementary School closed in June, those teachers were moved to other schools in Ashland instead being let go, according to Ashland Schools superintendent Juli Di Chiro.

“We do have some really good class sizes this year,” Di Chiro said.

The average class size has dropped slightly from last year’s numbers, according to figures from the school district and the Oregon Department of Education.

The difference from one year to the next exists in the space outside of the classroom.

Some parents, teachers and community members have brought descriptions of “overcrowded” schools before the Ashland School Board and some have questioned if the end of Lincoln came prematurely.

Schools are “fully utilized,” and closer to capacity than they’ve been in years, but not overcrowded, school administrators said.

“All the space is utilized. If you think about it in those terms, every room is fully utilized,” Helman Elementary School principal Susan Hollandsworth said.

Although classes aren’t packed like other school districts in the Valley — the Central Point School District tops state averages, with 28.6 kids in each elementary class — some lament that a little more free space would give teachers options for small group work or special projects.

“The fundamental issue is that the school is full,” said Mark Sherbow, who teaches the Blenders class at Walker this year. “Teachers in general feel there’s not enough space for extra activities.”

Hollandsworth was the principal at Lincoln when the school closed. In its last year, the school had an average class size of 23.3 students but a total enrollment of 168 students because school district officials wanted to limit the number of students who would have to transition to a different elementary school this year.

“That was extraordinarily unusual,” Hollandsworth said. “You wouldn’t ever have a building that size with that much space. At times we didn’t think we had enough children.”

This year, Helman classes average 22.3 students this year. Most classes are between 22 and 26 students, according to Hollandsworth. The smallest is 17.

“The physical space in the classroom feels a little smaller than some of the classes at Lincoln,” Hollandsworth said, but “what we’re missing here is an extra facility.”

The gymnasium at Helman doubles as the cafeteria, creating a scheduling challenge between PE classes and lunch periods, and effectively eliminating the area as a free space to bring classroom activities. Because of its open-air breezeways between pods of classrooms, Helman also lacks the hallway space enjoyed at the other elementary schools in the district.

Less severe space issues affect Bellview and Walker, both of which have separate gym and cafeteria space.

“I need breakout spaces,” Sherbow said. “We don’t have that. There are very few other spaces in the school.”

Those schools have doubled-up morning and afternoon kindergarten classes in the same room to protect resource centers where kids can work on art or science projects.

“The good news is we may be using every classroom, but we have fewer kids in every room,” Di Chiro said.

The number of classes necessary — and potentially class sizes — are expected to decline further as enrollment in the school district continues to drop. Enrollment in the Ashland School District will fall by 15 percent by 2010, according to a demographic report completed in November. The report projects a 428-student decrease in the next five years, followed by an additional loss of 231 students from 2010 to 2015. District enrollment slid by 532 students in the last five years and two elementary schools have been shuttered.

Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 225 or jsquires@dailytidings.com.