Parents want smaller classes in N. Barrington

Even as the Barrington Unit District 220 board stands poised for another round of winter budget cut discussions, some parents at North Barrington School are advocating the hiring of more teachers to keep class sizes down.

The parents who attended Tuesday night's school board meeting say the large classroom sizes at the school are the result of both a reduction in staffing as well as that North Barrington is one of the locations where special-needs students from elsewhere in the district are placed in mainstream classes.

Parent Karen Behrens said classroom sizes of 29 students have been reached in the first, third and fifth grades at the school. This not only exceeds the district's stated guidelines which range between 21 and 27 students per class, depending on grade level, but also is out of sync with nearly all the other elementary schools in the district.

She and the other nine parents who attended Tuesday's meeting pointed to data showing classroom sizes below guideline levels at Lines School in Barrington, which also receives mainstreamed special-needs students.

Behrens said she lives within North Barrington School's regular attendance boundaries, so her hearing-impaired daughter would be attending classes there anyway, but she questioned board members as to why classroom sizes couldn't be more equitable across the district.

“I'm concerned this has become not a good learning environment for the kids being mainstreamed and those from the North Barrington School attendance boundaries,” Behrens said.

School board President Brian Battle said every round of budget cuts the district has had to make during each of the past few winters has left even fewer attractive options the following year. But fairness in class sizes is a goal of the board that led to a similar problem at Barbara Rose School in South Barrington being corrected earlier this year, he said.

The district has already hired some teacher aides to help with the situation at North Barrington School.

“You're advocating for your kids, which is a great thing,” Battle told the parents. “We like to feel we're advocating for the kids. I feel we're aligned in our interests.”

“Clearly, North Barrington will be on our radar now,” Board Member Tim Hull added. “I'm glad you brought this up.”