Huntington Beach Parents Coming to Teachers’ Aid

As they do each morning at 9:45, the 18 children in the first shift of Caryn Chalabian’s kindergarten class put on their jackets, lined up at the door and spilled outdoors for hopscotch and kickball.

During recess, however, more parents arrived with the afternoon crew of kindergartners and, when class resumed, 31 students sat cross-legged at Chalabian’s feet for an hour of crowded “overlap” lessons before the morning group went home.

Feeling the effects of a state budget crisis, trustees of cash-strapped Huntington Beach City School District told parents this year they had no choice but to double-up the kindergarten classes part of the day and increase third-grade classes to 30 students from 20.

And now, faced with the probability of increased first- and second-grade classes next year, a group of parents in the Orange County district have taken matters into their own hands. They are asking 5,000 fellow parents to donate $200 per child to ensure small classes throughout the district for kindergarten through third grade. The group hopes to preserve about 25 teaching jobs that may be lost next fall and restore 27 teaching posts eliminated this year.

The fundraising effort is being promoted at a meeting of parents tonight at the district offices.

“As a parent, I want to help provide the best environment for teachers to teach well ... and with fewer kids, it helps them,” said Marcy Smith, an organizer of Community for Class Size Reduction.

Teachers and administrators agree. With larger classes, they said, children get less individual instruction. Reading groups become unwieldy, one-on-one attention is rare, and teachers are forced to streamline lesson plans.

“It’s more pressured and rushed to get things done,” Chalabian said. “We’re teaching the same things, but it’s a question of how much we get done.”

While most can agree on the benefits of smaller classes, the parents group faces a daunting task.

Initial fundraising has fetched roughly $20,000, but the group’s leader, Cathi Livingston, said $205,000 is required just to preserve the 20-to-1 ratio of students to teachers in first and second grades.

If they manage to collect $450,000, third-grade classes will shrink back to 20 students from this year’s average of 30. And $900,000 would enable the district to drop its overlapping kindergarten classes.

Livingston is confident that, with assistance from businesses, the group would be able to achieve at least one of its lower goals. Most of the money, however, is projected to come from the parents.

Group organizers say they hope that parents who cannot afford to contribute to the campaign will find sponsors who can. They also expect some parents to balk because they’re philosophically opposed to helping fund public education.

To avoid imbalances in the quality of education, trustees insisted that parents raise money for all of the district’s eight elementary schools collectively, so no school is short-changed.

“I have to admit that, initially, I was thinking selfishly,” said Nada Feiwell, as she dropped off her 5-year-old twins at Seacliff Elementary, which serves the district’s wealthiest families. “But we are one district and we should [all] be on one level.”

Supt. Gary Rutherford said the district expects to cut an additional $1 million from next year’s budget and welcomes what most likely will be the only chance to salvage smaller classes. He cautioned, however, that even if the group succeeds, it will have to mount a similar campaign next year.

“It’s a one-year solution,” he said. “But I’ll take a one-year solution right now.”