By Chad Klassen

District, teachers working together to even out class sizes

Sep 28, 2018 | 4:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — It’s nearing the end of the first month of school and students are settling into the new year. Behind the scenes, however, School District 73 has been making the necessary adjustments to ensure there are the proper number of students and supports in the classroom. 

“The district has gone through much effort over the last month to ensure every class in the district is in compliance with the class size and composition rules,” said School District 73 Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Shayne Olsen. “That included adding several divisions in our elementary schools as well as blocks to the different secondary schools to ensure the class sizes were brought down.”

The maximum number of students in a class depends on the grade and the course. A regular course like English allows for 29 students in Grade 8-12 classes. There are 20 students permitted in any kindergarten class.

The Kamloops-Thompson Teachers’ Association contends, based on those numbers, there still violations around the district. 

“It really comes down to a disagreement about what that language meant in the 1990s when it was negotiated,” said KTTA President Amanda Jensen. “Unfortunately, based on the union’s interpretation of the language, we are looking at a number of classes that are over either in class size or in the number of students who have been Ministry designated as having a learning disability or the like.”

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The district admits there are still classes that are one or two students over the capacity, some in rural schools or in specialized courses offered. But some teachers have been asked to take on more kids and are being compensated for it. 

“There may be some classes that, because of the needs of the students, they may not be in compliance,” said Olsen. “And there is a process in place to remedy teachers involved. Last year we had a similar situation. We work with the KTTA and have those conversations around those classes to show why it may be to the best interest of a particular student to have that one extra student in that classroom.”

Olsen says rurals schools, for instance, may have one or two more students but it’s simply not enough to add another classroom. 

Meantime, final enrolment numbers across the district are expected to come out next week. It’s projected there are 100 more students at the elementary level, while secondary schools are down about 70 kids. 

Earlier this month, SD 73 hired 30 more teachers to deal with the increases at the elementary level, evening out class sizes and also lessening pressure on teachers.

“At this point, having hired 30 teachers just recently that were available to work in the month of September, it seems to have alleviated that problem,” noted Jensen. “We’re still aware of a few instances where [teacher] absenses have not been filled and there’s a crunch in schools.”

The district says it’s hired seven more teachers on call in the last two weeks, adding to previous hires this month. The KTTA says more may be needed as the year goes on.