Class sizes prompts District 200 to add staff

Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 is in the process of hiring more teachers to reduce class sizes at its elementary schools.

"We've had class size issues all over the district and looked at each one of those," said District 200 spokesman Robert Rammer, adding that Hawthorne, Longfellow, Lowell, Madison, Sandburg, Wiesbrook and Whittier elementary schools picked up extra staff for this school year.

For example, two new full-time teachers have joined Hawthorne School after the Wheaton school experienced increased third-grade enrollment.

The district's decision to add staff is a relief to several parents of first-graders at Madison School in Wheaton. Last week, the parents complained to the school board that Madison's three first grade classes were too large.

"At this grade level, this is such a foundational year where kids are learning to read and learning to learn," said Mark Mathis, who has a daughter in a class with 28 students. "We understand the district is facing a budget crunch, but class sizes should be addressed."

A new first grade teacher for Madison will be hired as soon as interviews with applicants are completed. That will result in four sections of first grade with 20 students in each section.

"We are happy with the way things fell into place," Madison parent Susie Mitchell said Monday. "We are relieved that they've added a fourth section."

Overall, enrollment numbers for District 200 are falling, officials said. Total enrollment decreased by 125 students to 13,481 students in the district, which has 20 schools and serves Wheaton, Warrenville and portions of Carol Stream, Winfield and West Chicago.

Still, there was an increase in enrollment at the elementary schools. That included roughly 200 more children in the English Language Learner program, which now has more than 1,000 students districtwide.

Rammer said officials knew there would be instances where the district's target for class sizes would be exceeded. District 200's target class size for kindergarten and first grade is 26 students. It's 28 students for second and third grades and 30 for fourth and fifth grades.

"As we approach those target areas - depending on the make-up of the class, the needs of the students, the teacher, the building configuration - then we determine if and when additional staff is needed and put those in where we can," Rammer said.

Rammer said the district wanted to wait until after it had tenth-day enrollment numbers before hiring more people.

"The difference this year is we have to be a little more strategic about those additions," Rammer said.

"In past years, we just added staff any time we thought there might be additional students," he said. "That's how you get an unbalanced budget. As the budget becomes tighter, we have to be sure that we're providing staff for students who are in chairs."