By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green School District’s raw enrollment numbers put the district’s need for elementary teachers at 40 or 41 teachers. However, those numbers fail to tell the real story, Superintendent Francis Scruci said Tuesday at the school board meeting.
“When we’re talking about enrollment and staffing, you can’t use raw numbers,” Scruci said.
Ideally, all elementary students would be divided equally among classrooms. However, with three elementaries, Bowling Green can’t do that. So it’s either disparity in classroom numbers, or redistrict students – knowing that the next year they may have to switch schools again.
As of now, the enrollment at the three elementaries, in order of first through fifth grades is as follows:
- Conneaut – 68 in first, 89 in second,74 in third, 70 in fourth, and 88 in fifth.
- Crim – 59 in first, 71 in second, 79 in third, 77 in fourth, and 46 in fifth.
- Kenwood – 59 in first, 58 in second, 48 in third, 67 in fourth, and 66 in fifth.
The district has some intra-district enrollment, allowing children to go to a different elementary than where they would regularly be assigned. That may be because the parents teach at a particular school. The district gets very few students from other districts through open enrollment.
Add into the equation that the district doesn’t have a final count until the first day of school in the fall, and planning becomes very difficult.
Scruci said smaller classroom sizes are always beneficial to students – especially in the younger grades.
“Smaller classes in kindergarten makes a world of difference,” he said.
Classrooms are capped at 24 for kindergarten through third grades. That cap goes up to 27 students for fourth and fifth grades. Additional teachers must be added if a class exceeds those caps.
Based on the raw numbers of district-wide elementary enrollments, Bowling Green City Schools would need 40 to 41 elementary teachers.
However, because the numbers are so different in the three elementaries, the district needs at least 48 teachers. That adds up to about $420,000 additional a year that the district pays for staffing. And some of the class sizes are very close to needing another teacher or another classroom.
“This would be an argument for a consolidated building,” Scruci said, referencing the bond issue for a single elementary school that failed in November.
Scruci pointed out that hiring new teachers at the last minute is getting more difficult, since colleges are graduating 56 percent fewer teachers. Most good teachers already have positions by the spring – so it helps if the district can plan ahead if additional teachers are needed.
“We have 3,100 kids who depend on us,” Scruci said.
