Date: Fri 25-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: AMYD

Quick Words:

school-enrollment

Full Text:

PAGE ONE

Enrollment

Up As

Schools Open

B Y A MY D'O RIO

Public schools and St Rose School open on Wednesday, August 30, and already

two elementary schools, Sandy Hook and Head O'Meadow, are above enrollment

projections.

Only Sandy Hook, however, has had to add classes and staff beyond what was

originally budgeted.

Both Middle Gate and Hawley schools are slightly under enrollment projections.

There have been no figures yet for the middle and high schools.

School Superintendent John Reed said the last time he looked, the kindergarten

through eighth grade level has 61 kids over projections. Most of the growth

stems from kindergarten and first grade, which has 73 more children than

expected.

Early enrollments fluctuate and usually do not stabilize until October. The

Board of Education receives a detailed enrollment and class size report then.

This year, the district is considering hiring a consultant to go over state

enrollment projections and provide demographics. Dr Reed said a firm would

probably charge around $8,000 to $9,000 for such a study.

State enrollment projections have been off the last several years by

significant amounts, so Dr Reed said the school board is concerned.

Sandy Hook originally only expected to have four kindergartens, but realized

early on it would need five. Now, it is getting one more, plus an extra third

grade.

This has meant taking an oversized classroom from the preschool PROBE program

to use as a kindergarten room. In return, PROBE received a small tutoring

room.

For the extra third-grade class, a math/science resource room will be used.

If things continue to grow at the same rate over the next few years, Ron

Vitarelli, Sandy Hook School's principal, said either the PROBE program will

have to be moved or music or art will go on a cart.

Dr Reed said it is too early to speculate whether enrollment will keep

increasing at the same rate, and hopes some of this information will be

provided if and when a consultant does a demographic analysis of Newtown's

building boom.

As of August 16, Sandy Hook had 602 children enrolled. This is 37 more than

the enrollment projection predicted.

The projection expected 81 students to enter kindergarten, but Sandy Hook now

has 122 enrolled, 41 more than expected.

Head O'Meadow School is the only other school over projection, but just by 16

students, as of August 23.

The increase has not been significant enough to make a difference in the

number of classes needed or class sizes.

Overall, Dr Reed said the public schools should not have any major class size

problems. He said, for the most part, they seem reasonable.

The school board has class size guidelines for the elementary schools.

Class size should be 20 or under for kindergarten and first grade, and between

20 and 25 for grades three through five.

At the middle school, Dr Reed said classes should also be between 20 and 25,

but can be frequently higher.

At St. Rose School, enrollment is increasing but school officials were not yet

sure by how much. School officials are not worried about space even though

they are working to get one portable classroom. The portable is mainly to free

space for technology.

St Rose School does have a change at its helm. The school's principal,

Elizabeth Lynch, is taking a one-year sabbatical, so Newtown resident Donna

DeLuca is serving as interim principal.

Mrs DeLuca, who has children who have attended St Rose, is coming from the

Danbury school system where she taught for 15 years. She said she chose to

leave Danbury because she loves the St Rose community and the chance Catholic

education provides to foster spirituality in children.

Mrs DeLuca is a special education teacher with a master's degree. While in

Danbury, she gained administrative experience by leading professional

development activities and working on community coalitions.