VOORHEESVILLE — A handful of first-graders’ parents showed up at the school board meeting Monday with 43 form letters signed by other parents of soon-to-be second-graders; they were upset about class size.

"We’re very concerned about the large class size," Christin Wilcenski said; her daughter was in a first grade class of 24 students this year.

Wilcenski is a certified guidance counselor and used to work in the Albany public schools be-fore becoming staying home to raise her children.

"This Blue Ribbon thing is getting a little old now," Wilcenski said, referring to national recognition the school earned a decade ago.

"Another teacher is strongly needed next year," she told the board.

She went on to refer to STAR, (Student Teacher Achievement Study), research conducted in Tennessee by following students from 1985 to 2003 to track the effect of primary class sizes on students over the long term, Wilcenski said.

The study showed that children in class sizes of 19 or fewer are less likely to be left back a grade, and they achieve higher grades in high school, she said.

School Superintendent Alan McCartney acknowledged that the STAR study was the most famous but said that people can find all kinds of studies to argue one point over another. He told The Enterprise that Carnegie re-search, which a different parent brought up on Monday, shows, for example, that, if the student is in class size of 17 or under, there is a difference but, if it’s a class size of anywhere from 17 to 40, there is no difference.

McCartney said that he is by no means saying that he wants to raise class sizes to 40, but is just illustrating that there a number of different studies to argue for one system over another.

McCartney said the way the Voorheesville District looks at elementary class size is by looking at the individual children’s needs, "not the number of kids per teacher," McCartney said.

Voorheesville offers teachers aids, specialized instruction through reading teachers and math teachers in a resource center, and other special education teachers—all of which offset larger class size, he said.

McCartney said at the school board meeting that, in the first-grade class of 24, nine of those students are pulled out for half the day for specialized instruction, and also there are a number of aids that come in to assist the teacher.

McCartney told The Enterprise that the elementary school class size has been in the 23 range for a number of years now, although he says, he does anticipate it going up, especially now, after receiving recognition in Newsweek.

McCartney had announced at the school board meeting that the news magazine, which ranks the top 1,000 schools in the nation based solely on their students’ performance on the Advanced Placement exams, ranked Voorheesville 270th, which puts it in the top 4 percent of school districts in the United States.

Wilcenski said that Voorheesville is supposed to be known as a small district with small class sizes but Albany public schools have 18 students on average in first-grade sections and Guilderland has 19 students on average in first-grade classes, she said.
The Guilderland budget proposal shows that first-grade this year averaged 18.4 students and next year will average 19.7 students.

For second grade, Guilderland currently averages 18.9 students per class, and next year anticipates averaging 19.9.

Based on the Voorheesville budget brochure, the average class size anticipated for first grade next year is 23 and the projected average class size for grade two is 23 students.

Wilcenski said that larger class sizes not only are taxing for students but erode the teachers’ abilities as well.

She said students are squeezed closer together, and the noise level is high.

Renée Bache, said she regularly volunteers to read with her daughter’s first-grade class. She told The Enterprise, based on her observations, there are a few aids assigned to a couple of children with special needs, but those special-education aids end up having to help out the teacher and other students, and they are being spread too thin.

A few aids come in for about an hour in the morning, but they just help the teacher with preparation work like cutting things out, she said, or taking the kids to lunch.

She said that, luckily, in her daughter’s class, parents help with reading tutorials but there are some classes where parents aren’t available to run small-group reading sessions, and those students are just missing out altogether.

Budget ties
McCartney said the district and elementary school Principal Kenneth Lien are reviewing class sizes.

McCartney emphasized that, if the administrative team recommends it, "We have extra money in the budget for additional teachers."

McCartney said that, when budgeting, the district makes estimates, but the board has, from time to time, transferred funds. Meeting student needs is a priority, McCartney said.

Voorheesville Teacher Association President Kathy Fiero spoke up at the school board meeting saying that the union most certainly supports smaller classes sizes but, she said, "That requires a ‘yes’ vote at the budget." election so the money is there.
Wilcenski told The Enterprise that her parent interest group was not at the school board meeting to speak against the budget but, rather, the group thought it was a good time to ex-press its concerns about class-size policy since the current and future superintendent were both in attendance, and also board candidates and elder school board members were still present.

She doesn’t want people to vote against the budget next week because of concerns over class size, she said, stating, if the budget is voted down, then the district will be much less likely to reduce the second-grade’s class size.

Wilcenski would like 17 children in each class from kindergarten through third grade while retaining the current aids.

McCartney said, when adding another teacher to a grade, the district has to think about all thresholds for all the grades; if there are a few classes with just 10 students, then that would greatly impact the rest of the student body.