AUBURN — Enrollment in Auburn schools is up slightly from last year and a few elementary classes are too large, Superintendent Katy Grondin told the School Committee on Wednesday evening.
Last year’s enrollment was 3,575. This year’s total is higher, although the exact number won’t be available until early November, she said, because a new computer system verifying enrollment is taking longer.
Grondin did share a look at the sizes of this year’s elementary classes, which shows a few grades at some schools have crowded classrooms.
One was a Sherwood Heights’ kindergarten class that has 21 students. State regulations say there should be no more than 20. A student from Sherwood Heights was moved Walton school, she said, adding that class sizes will be monitored.
Another concern is the fifth and sixth grades at East Auburn, where there are 26 students in the fifth grade and 27 in the sixth. At Park Avenue Elementary the average is 28 students in the fifth and sixth grades.
Principals are responding by providing educational technicians or regrouping students, Grondin said.
At Park Avenue, one challenge is that the school, which opened in 2006 and is Auburn’s newest school, has run out of room. “They’ve don’t have any space,” Grondin said.
Class sizes at Fairview Elementary, Auburn’s largest elementary school, have come down to an average of 20 students. That’s because an extra teacher was hired last year, Grondin said. Fairview’s four kindergarten classes average 16 students each.
Kindergarten teacher Tammy Fecteau works with Tristan Bartlett, 5, while he practices his letters Wednesday at Park Avenue Elementary School in Auburn. Enrollment this year is up slightly, Superintendent Katy Grondin said, and some classes are crowded, including Park Avenue’s fifth and sixth grades.
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