No New Grade 4 at Eastbury Elementary

, the Glastonbury Board of Education decided to follow the recommendation of School Superintendent Alan Bookman and maintain the school’s current class size.

The board voted at their July 9 meeting to follow the superintendent’s recommendation not to add an additional grade four class to , after receiving more finalized data regarding next year’s class sizes.

During the 2011-2012 school year, Eastbury had three classrooms for grade four, but the school will be reducing the classrooms to two next year for the fourth grade, which would mean that at current projections one class would have 25 students while another had 26.

That would give Eastbury the largest fourth-grade classes among the town’s six elementary schools and the largest classes among all elementary grades. However, the class sizes still fall within the school board’s acceptable range of classroom sizes.

The school board’s acceptable range of class sizes in the elementary schools is 22-26 students, Bookman said. And the projected enrollment for the overall Eastbury fourth grade class has not increased.

“The numbers are still within our guidelines,” the superintendent said.

Board of Education Chairperson Susan Karp said that the school board ultimately decided to adopt Bookman’s recommendation, but was keeping an eye on any potential staffing problems in the classrooms.

“We keep in contact with the administration and the teachers,” Karp said. “If there’s a need for assistance in the classroom, that will definitely be addressed.”

Bookman said that one alternative to expanding classes was to add additional paraprofessional aides to classrooms in need.

“My expectation is we’ll look to add paraprofessional help,” Bookman said.

The first day of school for all district elementary students is Aug. 29. Middle and high school students start school on Aug. 28.