BURBANK : Waiver Sought by School on Class Size

Seeking to avert a $71,000 fine, administrators at Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School have asked state education officials to waive a requirement that the average size of third-grade classes not exceed 32 pupils.

Emerson has averaged two students over the limit, said district officials, who are optimistic the state Department of Education will grant the waiver this month.

District officials contend the fines will be avoided because the state had been advised that the limit would be exceeded and the school had a good reason.

Emerson Principal Marilyn Ramsey said the school could have met the limit if grades were combined. For instance, the fourth-grade classes, which are smaller, could have been combined with the third-grade classes, bringing them to acceptable sizes.

But combining the classes would have made scheduling difficult, interfering with a “team-teaching concept” started at the school this year. Under the concept, teachers of the same grade level work together in drafting a curriculum. Combining the grades also might have lead to increased class sizes for kindergartners, who would have been joined with another grade, she said.

“We are not concerned we would have to pay the penalty on this,” said Bob Fraser, the district’s director of elementary education.

The Burbank school district maintains an average for all grade levels of 30.5 students per class, Fraser said.