Smaller Class Size Causes Space Shortage

For the Conejo Valley school board, hiring 79 new teachers to cut class size in the first, second and third grades was a piece of cake. Figuring out where to put the new instructors and the extra, smaller classes is another matter entirely.

“Somebody is going to be unhappy no matter what we do,” said Conejo Valley Unified School District board member Dorothy Beaubien at a Thursday afternoon study session.

Already, administrators at the district’s 18 elementary schools are disbanding computer labs and asking two teachers to share classrooms of 40 squirmy 6-year-olds so the district can shrink classes when schools open Sept. 5. These are temporary measures, board members say, until more space for pared-down classes can be found, built or purchased.

The permanent solutions for the district, which will have an estimated 17,978 students in kindergarten through grade 12 for the upcoming year, are more elusive, the five board members found.

The impetus for the smaller-class trend is a $771-million state initiative that reimburses school districts $650 for every student in a qualifying smaller class.

To fit those reduced classes, the state set aside an additional $200 million for expanded facilities. By all accounts, that sum won’t come close to covering all requests for portable classrooms, and school districts themselves will pick up much of the slack. At the most, the Conejo Valley school district could receive $450,000 from the facilities pot, estimated Sean Corrigan, district facilities director.

This much is clear: The school district will need at least 39 more classrooms to ensure that all teachers have their own, explained Richard W. Simpson, assistant superintendent for instructional services. When school doors open in two weeks, 21% of the 380 first-, second- and third-grade teachers will share classrooms with another teacher for part or all of the day.

To eliminate room sharing within 18 months, the board must choose a long-term solution to elementary school crowding within the next month or so, said Supt. Jerry Gross.

Corrigan outlined eight possibilities for fitting this year’s trimmed classes and for accommodating future district growth.

Among the options presented were broadening a pilot program in which some sixth-graders attend middle school, bumping all sixth-graders from elementary into middle school, and reopening Triunfo, Horizon Hills and Waverly schools, which now accommodate adult and special-education classes.

Other possibilities discussed were purchasing 39 portable classrooms, speeding the construction of the proposed school at Lang Ranch, switching to year-round elementary schools, and eliminating auxiliary programs, such as child care and adult school. The price tags for the various options ranged from $300,000 to the $6-million estimate for building the Lang Ranch school, which has long been in the planning.

Board members immediately opposed cutting auxiliary programs and readmitting youngsters to Triunfo, Horizon Hills and Waverly schools. Year-round calendars, already used in the Oxnard and Los Angeles school districts, were given a lukewarm reception.

Although it can add 25% to a school’s capacity, year-round schooling “is not something that appeals to many people,” said board member Mildred Lynch. “But it appears to me that there isn’t going to be enough money for any of the other options.”

Board members said they were more enthusiastic about expanding the pilot program to allow more sixth-graders to attend middle school, purchasing several dozen portable classrooms and stepping up the pace of Lang Ranch school construction. The idea of floating a local school facilities bond was also mentioned.

“Just because we discussed something doesn’t mean that we are moving in that specific direction,” cautioned board President Richard Newman. “We’re verbally exploring many alternatives to a problem that already exists--we don’t have enough classrooms for smaller classes in the right places right now.”