Smithtown Elementary School Class Sizes Get Projected Caps

SMITHTOWN, NY — Smithtown elementary school class sizes will be capped at 25 students in a typical year should the goal of Superintendent Mark Secaur be met, according to a news release from the district.

Secaur, during Tuesday's board of education meeting, announced that class sizes at the kindergarten through fifth-grade levels at the district's seven elementary schools are projected to be within the target for the 2021-22 school year, which is set to begin Sept. 9.

Here are the projected average class sizes for each grade during the upcoming school year:

• Kindergarten: 18.3 students
• First grade: 20.6
• Second grade: 20.8
• Third grade: 21.7
• Fourth grade: 20.9
• Fifth Grade: 21.6

"Going into this year, we purposely sought to lower the numbers because of the pandemic-related concerns we all have," Secaur said at the board meeting.

Secaur said that class-size projections will continue to be vigilantly monitored.

"These are data we’re monitoring closely to make sure we don’t have creep," Secaur said. "And if we make decisions to increase the number of sections, we’d like to do so sooner rather than later if there’s a need. But, right now, we’re safely within what our goal was for the beginning of the year."