NESHANNOCK BOARD Class sizes cause concern

Administrators and the teachers agreed to larger class size.
By LAURA MILOSER
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The number of pupils assigned to sixth-grade classrooms at Neshannock Elementary School this fall has some parents concerned.
Neshannock Area School Board members said Thursday that about 37 parents of the 110 pupils have requested an additional teacher be added to lower the class size from 27 or 28 pupils per class to 22.
After hours of deliberation Thursday night, the board reviewed 11 key points about the matter, then voted on three options:
UKeep the current four sixth-grade teachers.
UAdd a new sixth-grade teacher to the staff.
UMove a second-grade teacher to an additional the sixth-grade position.
How the votes went
All three votes ended in ties, and District Solicitor Jonathan Solomon advised the board that meant no change would be made.
Parent Tom Barberino, who favored adding another class, asked the board if the situation was an oversight or a conscious decision to have larger class sizes.
Elementary Principal Matt Heasley said the administration had reviewed the class sizes and decided not to increase the number of teachers. He added that the sixth-grade teachers also approved the larger class sizes.
He further said the smaller class sizes are more important for kindergarten through third-grade.
Board member Walter Kustra, also a parent of a sixth-grade pupil, said, "I'm all for adding a new teacher, but I don't want my child's classroom to be a trailer."
The renovation and addition at the elementary school would require a modular classroom if a sixth-grade class was added.
"As a board, we have been more unified than any other time trying to solve this issue," board member Joseph Gierlach said, adding, "We can't win. I'm very sympathetic with the parents, but this is also a budgetary issue."
Also on agenda
In other business, the board voted to maintain the number of foreign exchange students in the district to three per year.
Neshannock High School Principal Maynard Harvey received a phone call from a township resident who has hosted previous foreign exchange students asking to increase the number of exchange students to four this year. It was not immediately clear why he made the request.
The vote went down in a 4-4 tie.
District Superintendent Dr. Michael Hink has called a special board meeting for 7 p.m. Aug. 27, to ensure everything is ready for at the elementary school to begin.
Construction on the school is running behind, according to architect John Papas, but classes are tentatively scheduled to start Sept. 2.