Herricks Parents Not Pleased with Classroom Sizes

Several parents at expressed their frustration and disapproval of having in some cases 29 students in a class during Thursday night’s meeting of the Herricks Board of Education at the .

“Twenty-nine children in the classroom is not acceptable," a parent said.

In response to the parent noting that in the fourth and fifth grade students are getting harder assignments and need as a result, board member James Gounaris said that every grade is important.

“Our hands are kinda almost tied,” Gounaris said, referencing the 2012-2013 budget. “As a parent and board member, this is unacceptable.”

Board member Dr. Sanjay Jain said that regarding class size, “relative to all things, it's really about the quality of the teacher.”

Board vice-president Richard Buckley noted that with one or two students added to a class, it shouldn't have a drastic impact on the quality of their education.

“We have an incredible base of teachers in this district,” he said.

Another parent said that bringing up the issue of class size at this point that the board has been working on this year's budget since October. “This didn't just happen overnight,” she said.

Board member Peter Grisafi noted that student morale still appears to be high in the district despite higher class sizes in some cases. He added that the system is different because 35 positions were cut in the district last year and another 16 are proposed for this year.

Superintendent Dr. John Bierwirth said that Herricks pays about $7,000 less per student than what it consider comparable school districts.

The board adopted the 2012-2013 budget, which still needs to be voted on by the public, after a lengthy discussion. The budget is $101,382,816 and includes:

• $10,536,593 in general support
• $60,161,281 in instruction
• $3,302,188 in transportation
• $509,785 in community service
• $26,872,969 toward undistributed