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Parents press Port Washington board to prioritize smaller class sizes; board says it will review costs in budget process
Summary
Multiple parents urged the Port Washington board to prioritize reducing elementary class sizes during public comment and presented a petition. Trustees said class size is a budget priority and the issue will be part of forthcoming budget deliberations.
Port Washington, N.Y. — Several parents used the Feb. 11 Port Washington Board of Education meeting to press trustees to prioritize smaller class sizes, particularly at Sousa Elementary, and delivered a petition the board said it has received and will review as part of the budget process.
"I'm here again to speak on behalf of our children and to ask once more for smaller class sizes to be prioritized in the district," said Patty Perita, a Sousa parent, during the meeting's public comment period. Perita said teachers and parents continue to report overcrowded classrooms and urged trustees to "think like parents" when making budget choices.
Other speakers detailed classroom experience and policy concerns. "I'd like to implore the board to prioritize our children and revisit the outdated class size policy," said Catherine Ferry, a Sousa parent, who recounted a classroom moment when students noticed how different the room felt on a day many classmates were absent. Another parent, Lauren Krieger, urged the board to consider how integrated co-teaching (ICT) classrooms are staffed, saying "An ICT class should not be 26 kids. There's no — that's not an ICT model." Krieger also cautioned trustees about expecting immediate large grant results when considering outsourcing grant-writing work.
In response, district staff and trustees said class size is already part of budget committee discussions. During the meeting's "old business" segment, the board confirmed it had received a petition signed by several hundred community members and noted budget committee review of costs to reduce class sizes. "As we go further in the budget process, we have committed that that will be something that is discussed when we review our priorities," the board said in a prepared reply to the earlier community comments.
Trustees emphasized that individual student issues are handled offline and that any districtwide class-size action would require cost analysis and budget decisions. Several trustees suggested the policy committee and budget leaders will examine class-size policy and related thresholds; one trustee asked that the attendance and chronic-absence policy also be reviewed and placed on the policy committee's agenda.
The board did not adopt a class-size policy change at the Feb. 11 meeting; trustees said they expect class-size options and cost estimates to be part of the March 11 budget discussion.
