Large Kindergarten Class Forces New Hire

In her inaugural meeting as Superintendent of Weston Schools, Dr. Colleen Palmer informed the Board of Education at its Monday evening meeting that the size of the incoming kindergarten class necessitated the hiring of a new teacher.

The incoming kindergarten class at Hurlbutt Elementary School as of August 15 is 163 students, including all pending registrations; in addition, Palmer indicated that there is a significant population within the population who require additional academic support.

The district originally planned for 140 students.

Board member Les Wolf adamantly opposed the recommendation.

“I can’t support this decision,” he said. “Given where we are in the budget, I think this is an unwarranted luxury.

“It’s just plain-out egregious,” he added.

The position will be funded by a $60,000 differential in the salary line, which Dr. Palmer indicated would permit another full time equivalent employee.

Palmer said that the decision to release the first grade class list at the end of this past June eliminated the opportunity to move a teacher from the first grade class down to kindergarten.

The first grade class size is an average of 17.5 students for the upcoming year.

Class creation is “a very delicate balancing act,” Palmer said. “It’s an art and a science. The disruption factor is too great, [and] it would affect the entire first grade."

Palmer indicated several times that next year class lists would not be released early.

“We [have to] have more leeway next summer,” she said. “Because the parents have been informed, the stakes are higher…implicit promises made to parents and students are difficult to undo."

Nevertheless, Wolf noted that “this is going to bite the board come October,” adding that he believed neither the Board of Selectmen nor the taxpayers would vote to add another teacher.

“It’s only affordable because it’s serendipitous that we found another $60,000,” Wolf said.

However, board members Phil Schaefer and Richard Bochinski noted that the board has a previously stated commitment to keep class sizes small, especially in the early grades, and that hiring the new teacher would keep that promise.

“We are making a values statement,” Bochinski said.

Other board members echoed the sentiments of board member Sonya Stack.

“We have to choose the best bad choice,” she said.

 In other board news:

Weston High School Principal Lisa Wolak indicated that there are currently 36 sections of classes for the upcoming school year that have 15 or less students enrolled.

“We have some work to do in balancing,” Wolak told the Board, adding that “less than 30 sections” is better.

Wolak also noted that student interest in advanced placement is increasing, as is participation in the year-end AP test that determines whether or not a student has learned enough to earn college credit for the course.

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The Environmental Protection Agency notified the town that the wetlands remediation will begin during the first week in September. The remediation will be noisy and will require multiple pieces of heavy equipment. Planting needs to be completed in October.

“We are appealing,” Palmer said. “Our best hope is that they delay [the heavy equipment work] until next summer, and complete the planting next October.”

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Also, in keeping with the state of Connecticut’s commitment to participating in national common core standards, the CMT and CAPT tests will be eliminated in the spring of 2015.

“We’ll be able to compare our results to students in other participating states,” Palmer said. 

The new assessments will be computer-based and adaptive, meaning that each test pathway is unique based on the correctness of the student’s response.