The Mercer Island School District has released its 2009-2010 class size count. The average class size across all grades and school levels is in the mid-20s, according to the district’s head count from the beginning of October.
The total count, posted on the district’s Web site earlier this month, outlines the class average for each grade level at each school for the three Island elementary schools and separates class sizes by subject for the middle and high school.
At the beginning of the school year, the district reported a slightly larger enrollment count than was expected during the budgeting process, mostly in the sixth grade and at the high school.
IMS Principal Mary Jo Budzius said that the increased number of students is noticeable at the school.
“We have 40 more [sixth-grade students] than we had anticipated, which has increased our sixth-grade class size from an anticipated average of 26 per class to an actual average of 28 per class,” said Budzius. While the district opted not to hire an additional teacher, IMS has received four hours of para-professional support and 1.5 hours of library assistant time to help cover the extra students.
The highest average class size in the district from the October count was at Islander Middle School in the music classes, with 40.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) students to every teacher. In the other subjects at IMS, the classes are more in line with the rest of the district.
The music classes at Mercer Island High School were also higher than the average at 31.9 students to every teacher. The Island Park Elementary kindergarten classes, which average 19.1 students to every teacher, had the smallest class average, outside of the special program classes. There are four kindergarten teachers at Island Park, three at Lakeridge Elementary and four at West Mercer Elementary, according to the various elementary schools’ Web sites.
Historically, the numbers are on par with the district’s averages over the past five years, which are based on enrollment counts from May of each school year.
