Rising enrollment crowds middle school

Teachers and administrators are packing them in at Sisters Middle School.

According to figures presented at the Thursday, September 11 school board meeting, enrollment at the 6th-8th grade facility has jumped to 307 -- an increase over last year of 33 students.

New middle school principal Lora Nordquist said that the growth is not leading, for the time being, to any increase in class sizes.

"We have been able to keep our classes to an average of 26-30 students, about the same as last year, because we were able to shift an elementary school teacher to our school," she said.

But, Nordquist noted, that doesn't mean the growth hasn't impacted other areas.

"We really are short three classrooms," she said. "Our teachers cannot remain in their classrooms to prepare for classes because classrooms are in use all day. That means teachers must haul their materials with them (because they can't access their computers) and prepare their lessons in often noisy and busy spaces."

Further, according to Nordquist, other critical building spaces are inadequate.

"The library can only hold 20 students comfortably; it's really classroom-sized," she said, "When one class is using it, no other students can do classwork there.

"Our cafeteria is also inadequate for our needs, only 100 students can use it at any time -- when it's cold or rainy outside, we have to try and fit 200 students into the gym," the principal said.

Finally, Nordquist mentioned, a "totally new class schedule had to be designed because our halls had become too crowded."

Nordquist also does double-duty as the school district's curriculum specialist. She admits that class sizes up to 30 students allow for good learning but "I would like to see class sizes cut off at 25."

In addition, she said that research has shown that ideal class sizes range from 18-20.

"Below that size you lose diversity of opinions among students and the ability to do larger learning projects, but much above it and a teacher can lose the ability to work more individually with students," she said.

School Superintendent Steve Swisher pointed out that accommodating strong, continual growth within the school system has been a challenge for some time.

"Years ago," he noted, "we had to use a nearby church (for overflow high school classes), then we had a community classroom-room raising at the elementary school which added four, and most recently a modular middle school classroom shared with Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation (SOAR)."

Swisher said that this year's overall system enrollment -- which he cautioned will vary throughout the year -- is currently 29 greater than last year, or 1,179 total students.

"We budgeted for twenty students extra so that, with the additional nine, we may (if it holds up) see $45,000 more dollars," Swisher noted.

To address the issues of growth and facility aging, the school board recently decided to ask voters to approve two November ballot measures. The proposed local option levy of 75 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value for four years would allow the school district to replace outdated and worn-out educational materials, repair and maintain its buildings, and add staff to maintain class sizes.

In addition, the proposed 20-year, $22 million bond would finance the building of a new, larger high school, allowing middle school students to leave the aging middle school facility and move to the current high school.