December 2002

Subject: Elementary Grade Level Task Force

Dear Parents:

On October 24, 2002, the Board of Education made a decision to convene a task force to review elementary grade level configurations and develop recommendations for the Board of Education’s consideration. The decision to establish a task force was necessitated by the continued challenges the District is experiencing in balancing its class size enrollment.

For the last ten years the District has experienced a decline in its enrollment. This change has resulted in the closing of the David Avenue Kindergarten Center. The District now operates two Kindergarten through fifth grade schools.

In addition, the District in 1996 made a decision to take part in the State of California’s Class Size Reduction program (CSR). This program requires our District to maintain a 20.44 class size average throughout the entire school year. If the District does not meet this average, it forfeits the CSR funds that it can receive from the State of California, approximately $18,120 per class. This is a significant educational and financial issue for our school district because the revenue received from Class Size Reduction makes the program available to our students. Scheduling or balancing classes at the 20.44 ratio outlined by the State of California has become a continuing challenge for our school district. This is due to the decline in enrollment, the operation of two campuses, each with 2-3 classes at K-3 grades (i.e. one school may have openings for students and the other school may be full or over the 20.44 average).

Last fall the District experienced tremendous difficulty in balancing its classes. It required students being transferred between schools and between grade levels, the opening of a K-1 combination class, along with the hiring of a half-time Kindergarten teacher. These recent challenges were brought about due to the fluctuations in enrollment and the attempt by the District to meet the State of California’s Class Size Reduction requirements. It is anticipated that these types of challenges will continue into the future and be exacerbated because of continued decline in enrollment. Therefore, the Board of Education has requested that a task force be established to review options and develop recommendations related to school and grade level organization.

During the next two to three months, a task force involving community members, staff and the Board of Education will be meeting to review various options. General meetings at elementary schools in our District will be conducted to gather suggestions and ideas from parents. In addition, this topic will be discussed at Board of Education meetings. These meetings, as all Board meetings, are open to the public, and this will again offer the public additional opportunity to address the proposed recommendations. It is anticipated that a formal set of recommendations will be brought to the Board of Education in February 2003. Specific dates of meetings (i.e. School Site and Board of Education) will be listed by December 12, 2002, on the District’s website at www.pgusd.org, or may be obtained by contacting your local elementary school.

As we move forward in gathering information related to grade level and school organization, I would like to invite you to participate in the school based meetings that will be scheduled this school year, and if you have immediate suggestions to contact your school Principal and share your information with him. Your Principals will be participating in the task group and will be able to share information with you and forward your suggestions to the task group.

Sincerely,

Patrick Perry
Superintendent

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