13 Hired to Improve Teacher-Pupil Ratio

Thirteen new kindergarten teachers have been hired to help the Simi Valley Unified School District expand its class-size reduction effort to nine of its 19 elementary schools.

The board approved the hirings Tuesday night.

Only four teachers still need to receive credentials, and they won’t start until they do--probably in December, said Assistant Supt. Cary Dritz.

“This is a great thing for our schools,” Dritz said.

The nine elementary schools are Mountain View, Atherwood, Berylwood, Crestview, Garden Grove, Justin, Katherine, Madera and Township.

Some of those schools will begin reducing class sizes as soon as possible; others will begin about Thanksgiving, Dritz said.

Next September, an additional nine schools plus the district’s new campus, Wood Ranch Elementary School, will start using the 20-to-1 student-teacher ratio, Dritz said.

Currently, Simi Elementary School is the only campus in the district to offer the smaller class sizes to kindergartners, although all the district’s elementary schools have implemented the smaller classes in first through third grades.