Schools eye more K classes

Published in the March 30, 2018 edition

MELROSE — The city continues to be a desirable place to live, and no one knows that better than school officials. Young families are moving in, creating a space crunch.

School Department administrators this week asked for two more  integrated kindergarten classes and are eyeing the Early Childhood Center at the Franklin School as the place to put them.

In a memo outlining the plan, Patricia White-Lambright, assistant supt. of schools for Pupil Personnel Services, stated that there is simply no room anywhere else.

“It is exciting to see the continued growth of new families in Melrose. As a result, our kindergarten enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year is currently at 324 students. We historically have an additional 15 to 20 students enroll from the time kindergarten registration ends until the opening of school in late August. A conservative estimate is 340 kindergarten students for next school year.

“In comparison, we currently have 322 kindergarten students in 15 classes across our five elementary schools. Of the 15 kindergarten classes, two classes are integrated kindergarten classes. An integrated kindergarten classroom typically has a smaller number of students, 18; which includes a number of students with special needs in addition to general education students. The Integrated K classrooms have a classroom teacher and full time paraprofessional support.

“In addition to our increased enrollment, we have an increase in students with special needs who will be best served in an integrated kindergarten classroom for the 2018-2019 school year. We feel that the number of students would be too great to place within the current configuration of two integrated classrooms. We are recommending that the district increase the number of integrated kindergarten classrooms from two to four, to address both student needs and increased student enrollment.

“Our options of space for two additional integrated kindergarten classrooms are limited. Horace Mann has no flexibility for additional classroom space. Lincoln and Roosevelt have already been utilized in past years for additional kindergartens and are now rotating those larger grades through their buildings. Hoover will continue to have three kindergarten classes for next year. Winthrop currently has four kindergarten classes and will start to move that larger grade through the building. In order to accommodate the larger grade, they will need to reduce their kindergarten classes from four to three.

“Our recommendation is to consider placing the two additional integrated kindergarten classrooms at the Franklin Early Childhood Center. Having two classes at the Franklin would ‘relocate’ the one kindergarten class that needs to be reduced from the Winthrop and we would be adding one classroom, bringing the total number of kindergarten classes to 16. By increasing the number of integrated kindergarten classes we would have four classes of 18 students and 12 classes of 22 to 23 students, based on the conservative estimate of 340 students.

“Our vision for the integrated kindergarten classrooms at the Franklin would follow our current model of smaller class size with paraprofessional support. The students would participate in the same kindergarten curriculum as all other kindergarten classrooms. Students would also participate in the same specials: art, music, physical education and health. The specific schedule will need to be developed and may vary by semester but would be equitable in offerings and time. By having two classes at the Franklin it will provide for a cohort of kindergarten students, staff and parents. Students would move on to first grade in one of the five elementary schools and would be able to join classes of 22 to 23 students. First grade class sizes would increase to 24 to 25 students which aligns with School Committee guidelines for class size. Financial consideration would need to be given to staffing (teachers and paraprofessionals), curriculum materials and access to technology (additional chrome books).

“We recognize that if we are able to move forward with this proposal, the Franklin had not been given as an option to families during the registration process. We would need to communicate to all incoming kindergarten families this new option and allow families the opportunity to identify Franklin as a preferred choice. We believe this option would best meet our challenge of increasing enrollment and provide for student needs in an enriching environment.”