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Class sizes could rise steeply in District 300

While students at Carpentersville-area schools work through problems of geometry, algebra and calculus, school administrators are trying to figure out a math problem of their own.

That problem is how to divide a student body that is staying the same size or getting a little bigger by a pool of teachers that is shrinking dramatically.

The unsurprising answer, according to a committee of Community Unit District 300 principals that has studied the issue: raise class sizes.

According to that committee, the school board's decision earlier this month to release 153 first- and second-year teachers will lead average class sizes across subjects and grade levels to rise above 30 students.

The problem, the principals reckon, will be particularly acute at the high schools. Several classes at Jacobs High School in Algonquin will average more than 40 students. Introductory German there will average 56 students.

Unfortunately, that's not the worst of it. District officials said this week they are contemplating dismissing 149 third- and fourth-year teachers next month, which would only exacerbate class sizes.

"It would make us recalculate," said Hampshire High School Principal Chuck Bumbales, a member of District 300's staffing committee. "Any additional releases would change the class sizes that you saw (Thursday) night."

District and union leaders say managing class sizes that approach and exceed 40 students will be a stiff challenge.

"Class sizes of 35 are not educationally appropriate," teacher's union President Kolleen Hanetho said. As for 40 and above, she says, "The class sizes of that size are beyond educationally appropriate. They're just not manageable. The students are going to suffer here."

Besides the educational issues, high class sizes would also rack up a significant cost for the district in "overload pay" - an amount the district must pay teachers when average class sizes exceed a contractually-set amount.

District leaders are hoping the union will agree to waive the estimated $2.5 million cost of overload pay for the 2010-11 school year - but that may be a hard sell.

"That is not doable," Hanetho said Friday. "The only ramification for putting 40 kids in a classroom is that they have to pay overload. We're trying to protect the class sizes. The teachers do not want 45 kids in their classroom."

The staffing committee also revealed this week that high school students face an additional problem: many of the classes they registered for no longer are available because of the recent layoffs.

As a result, school administrators will have to change 2,200 elective choices to students' less-preferred classes. In some cases, that may not be an option.

"We might end up placing students into sections they have not requested," Bumbales said, while adding schools would work with kids to get them into classes that actually interest them.

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