Geneva school board likely to add 2nd grade section
It was like déjà vu all over again at a Geneva school board meeting, as parents of Mill Creek Elementary School students asked again for a section to be added to avoid high enrollment in their children's' classrooms.
Some of the speakers were even the same as at the July 9 meeting in which they pleaded for an extra kindergarten section.
But this time, it's the second-graders who may get more elbow room, as the board agreed to split 57 students into three sections, not two, if the current enrollment remains the same or increases.
That means Mill Creek would need an additional teacher; the board Monday gave administrators the go-ahead to start looking for one. The board plans to approve a hire at its Aug. 13 meeting.
School starts Aug. 22. The fact that a new teacher may have only eight days to prepare worried some parents. One questioned why the district couldn't have decided back in April, after initial registration for the 2012-13 school year ended, to add the section and hire a teacher. They asked when they would know what section their child is in and who the teacher is.
Craig Collins, assistant superintendent for human resources, said the Geneva school district waits until closer to the beginning of school year because enrollments have, in the past, fluctuated right up to the first day of school. The district wants to balance the educational needs of students against its spending, he said.
Collins said the district has a database of more than 1,000 people seeking teaching jobs, so he is confident a good teacher can be found quickly.
“There is adequate time to prepare these people for the beginning of the school year. I can assure you the candidate pool is very large,” he said.
He also said the timing is common to Geneva and other school districts. “There is a flurry of hiring activity ... one month before the school year starts,” he said.
The St. Charles school district posted ads July 20 and July 23 for two elementary-teacher jobs on teachinkane.org, a website run by a consortium of Kane County public school districts. The Burlington district posted two teaching jobs July 19, and Kaneland posted a middle school opening July 17.
If the enrollment decreases to a point the district doesn't think it is economically worthwhile to have a third section, Collins said the district would consider going back to two sections but adding aides to the classrooms.