Class Caps Lowered at Hewitt

A new, lower class cap of 25 students was imposed in all grades at Hewitt Elementary School as a result of both parental persistence and need, school officials said.

As far back as 2003 and 2004, several Hewitt parents expressed concerns that there were too many kids per class in grades three through eight. Their gripes were both educational and logistic.

Parents said they felt that the high faculty-to-student ratio would impede on their children's education, and were also concerned about the physical space limitations that large class sizes in small classrooms presented.

"A study was done in 2003 and 2004 and the conclusion was that class sizes were best capped at 26 children," said Liz Dion, president of the Board of Education. "A small group of parents came back to us after this and expressed additional concerns to Dr. Johnson (the Rockville Centre School Superintendent), so we went back and took another look at it."

After much debate and discussion, a new class cap of 25 in all grades was unanimously agreed upon by the Board of Education at a June 22 public work session.

"It is an issue," explained Dion. "The simple truth is that these are old buildings. They were built with an entirely different demographic in mind. The actual classroom size is about 600-square feet. New school buildings are built with classroom sizes of about 900-square feet."

So is the prospect of building new schools with updated classroom sizes in Rockville Centre on the table?

"Not at this time," Dion said. "There was a bond slated for it and it didn't pass in the last budget. I just don't see how such a bond would pass in these times, unfortunately. We're going to do the very best we can with what we have."

Lower class caps at Hewitt, however, is not a new issue. During the 2005-06 school year, class caps were changed in grades K-2 to 26 and to 26 in grades 3-5. Before that year, the cap for third grade was 27, 28 for fourth and fifth grade, and 25 for kindergarten through second grade.