During the public comment period at Monday’s Greater Albany Public SD 8J board meeting, parents and classified staff criticized the district’s creation of 24 blended elementary classrooms that the speakers said were driven by budget decisions and declining enrollment.

“Part of the budget problem is due to declining student enrollment, and creating these blends ... is gonna further that problem,” parent Joy Huddleston told the board. Huddleston said families are considering homeschooling rather than sending a child to a blended second-and-third grade class of 29 students, and she cited class-size contract limits: “The blends make teaching much more complicated and overwhelming and creates inequality in learning outcomes for our students.”

Lehi Craig, president of Greater Albany ACE (the classified employees’ union), praised human-resources work that reduced loss of benefits during time reductions but asked for clearer posting of attorney fees and contract documents to increase transparency.

District staff and board members responded to the concerns by describing supports planned for blended-classroom teachers, including training, additional planning time for lead teachers, and unconference sessions in August to review multi-age planning maps. “We’re going to provide an opportunity in August for multi-age classroom teachers to get together,” a district official said, adding that the research tool the district is using shows mixed-age and single-grade classrooms have similar outcomes when teachers are well supported.

The public comment and staff responses were part of a broader budget conversation that included preserving reserve funds and restoring hours for four classified employees who had reductions ranging from half an hour to two hours. Human-resources staffer Susie said, “we have no certified or classified staff on layoff” and that four individuals had partial-hour reductions that the district intends to restore when positions are added.

Ending: Board members acknowledged the community concerns and described planned training and supports; parents and staff asked the board to continue searching for alternatives to blends before implementation.