Riverside just wants fairness

To the Editor:

In response to your editorial in the June 2-8 issue on class size at Riverside School, “School board must stick to its own policies,” please note that nobody at Riverside is asking for special treatment. We acknowledge and understand that no formal decision regarding class size happens until the district walkthrough in late August. 

That being said, the forecast kindergarten class at Riverside is currently estimated at 27, with the possibility of 28. Although the district has suspended the Class Balancing policy for next year, students may petition for school reassignment, and under current policy, those requests will only be considered if the incoming kindergarten class exceeds an average class size of 23.

Unless the district is prepared to say a class of 28 would be proper for Riverside, the administration should be prudently planning for two sections of 14 kids at Riverside prior to assessing transfer requests. All we are asking is that the administration and Board of Education answer an order-of-operations problem correctly. We are not asking the BOE to pre-emptively split the class. 

We would begrudgingly accept a 24-student kindergarten if students shift out of the class for family reasons. What we find unacceptable is the district gerrymandering student assignment to manage the incoming Riverside kindergarten class below thresholds that require additional resources. 

We think our community should focus on a more strategic question: In an era when we spend more than $30,000 per pupil, why are we tolerating class sizes of 25 or 26 kids at the elementary level?

Danielle and Wayne Fitzgerald

Rockville Centre