Ocean View Kindergarten Class Sizes May Be Reduced

Ocean View School District, which last summer was one of the first in Orange County to reduce class sizes in first through third grades, will consider doing so at the kindergarten level too.

Trustees will decide today whether to direct Supt. James Tarwater to pursue a plan to limit kindergarten classes to no more than 20 pupils. By limiting the number of students in primary-grade classes, schools can take advantage of a bonus being offered by the state.

The decision to reduce the size of kindergarten classes will not be as easy as the one to reduce the number of pupils in first- through third-grade classes, Trustee Tracy Pellman said.

Because schools’ facilities have already been stretched to accommodate 161 additional classes this year across the district, further size reductions could require opening a closed school site or revising the district’s transfer policy, she said.

“Hopefully we’ll be able to order and receive enough portables to accommodate everyone,” Pellman said. “We also have to ask, ‘Do we feel comfortable with the financing?’ ”

If the district moves forward with the plan, it would have to hire 20 teachers and purchase nine portables for the 1997-98 school year, Tarwater said.

“Our biggest concern is getting qualified, good teachers,” he said.