VOORHEESVILLE – Linda Langevin is "not one to make decisions in the dark," she said last week.
The superintendent of the Voorheesville School District is facing "unanticipated" increases in enrollment at the elementary school and may need to hire a new teacher to meet the needs of the students, she told The Enterprise.

The additional half-time teacher would mean adding $25,000 to a $21 million proposed budget with a tax levy increase of 6.87 percent. With additional cuts that Langevin will propose at the school board’s final budget session on March 26, the tax levy increase could end up at 5.79 percent.

Other districts in the area have tax levy increases for next year at around 4 or 5 percent, Langevin told The Enterprise.

The new teacher would teach literacy and math skills during the first half of the day to a fifth of fourth-grade students, Langevin said. Fourth-graders would be placed in classrooms with one of four other full-time teachers for science and social studies instruction, she explained.
"I have a lot of issues with that plan," said Kathy Fiero, president of the Voorheesville Teachers’ Association, and a teacher in the district for 16 years.
"It’s a good high-school model, but it’s not a good elementary-school plan," Fiero told The Enterprise. Elementary-school children get identity from the class they’re in, she said. "What is the identity for the kids in the half-time class"" Fiero rhetorically asked.
When fourth-grade teacher William Vincent died suddenly a few years ago, Fiero said, the teachers and counselors worked with the students to get them to understand their identities. They worked on tough questions like, "Who are we, and who do we belong to"" she said.
"I’m having trouble supporting this plan," Fiero concluded. "The discussion should have been broader before now," she said, adding that teachers at the elementary school were just informed of the plan, and are wondering how it will affect them.

The need for an additional teacher was listed on the agenda at the March 12 school board meeting, but the board opted to discuss the matter at the budget meeting, and review the information that was provided to them.
The budget "is very tight as it is," Langevin said. The board will vote on the budget proposal at its April 2 meeting; the public will have its say on May 15. "It is important that the budget process is transparent and that the community understands the financial impact of adding a half-time teacher to the faculty," she said.

Growing population

The enrollment at Voorheesville Elementary School has increased from 500 students in September of 2003 to 555 in March of 2007, Langevin said. The district anticipates 563 students in September, she added.

Families with children at the second-, third-, and fourth-grade levels are moving in faster than has been the trend in the past, Langevin said.
"Class sizes have been steadily increasing, so I think there is a need," Fiero said.
"If the growth continues, we will address the needs accordingly, Langevin told The Enterprise. "I expect a continual growth at the rate of 20 to 23 students at the elementary school each year."
The renovations at the elementary school, mostly involving updating ventilation systems, will begin this summer and will be completed by September of 2008, Langevin said. Once the construction is complete, two classrooms that will be used as swing classrooms during the project, will open up and be available for use as regular class space, she explained. "I see no need for additional space in the near future," she concluded.
Teachers have to provide certain levels of knowledge to equip their students with the information they need to be productive and successful in the 21st Century, said Langevin. In order to do that, she said, "we need to have a reasonable class size."
The district’s contract with its teachers states, "Whenever possible, regular classes in the elementary school and in the high school will not exceed 30 pupils, except in grades K-3 where 27 will be the number." Actual class sizes range from 20 to 24 at the elementary school, Langevin said.
Fiero teaches remedial math at the elementary school, and has taught various other levels in her years with the district, she said. It isn’t the teaching that becomes more difficult in a class with a high number of students, "It’s meeting the needs," Fiero said.
"The needs of students in public schools today are very different than 20 years ago, and the curriculum has changed," Fiero told The Enterprise.
"Let’s face it," Langevin said of the increasing enrollment. "We need to plan carefully," she added, "and be cognizant of the taxpayers along the way."