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District presents new classroom maps and enrollment data showing most secondary classes in the high teens
Summary
District staff showed color-coded floor plans and utilization data for JMMS and East Haven High, reporting most middle- and high-school core classes average in the high teens and identifying underused specialty spaces and priorities for elementary mapping.
District staff presented enlarged, color‑coded floor plans and enrollment‑by‑space data for Jonathan M. Middle School (JMMS) and East Haven High School to the Board of Education, saying the maps will guide safety planning and scheduling.
The superintendent (speaker 2) said the renderings — built with IT staff and building leaders — include layers for security cameras and crisis planning. He called the floor plans “user friendly” and noted they will be used for evacuation planning and building modeling.
Staff pointed out that many second‑floor rooms at JMMS are smaller than typical classrooms and that four rooms are appropriate only for resource groups or small‑setting classes. The presentation flagged a manufacturing lab (Room 100) that is underused because its teaching time is split by a 0.5 FTE shared with the high school.
“Of those 46 instructional spaces, 41 are used five periods of the day,” the superintendent said, a roster‑based calculation that excludes lunch‑time support groups. He added that below‑50% usage generally appears in special‑education and ESL settings.
The presentation included average class‑size breakdowns by department. Staff reported that core classes at JMMS and the high school run in the high teens, AP courses can run in the mid‑20s, and many CTE courses maintain smaller enrollments. The district also noted roughly 700 current enrollments this semester for referenced course groupings.
Board members asked for and received clarifications about how utilization was computed. Staff said the calculation used a 10‑instructional‑period framework (two‑day rotation) and deliberately excluded teacher prep blocks; they said a typical classroom is occupied about 80% of the available student‑seating blocks in a normal schedule.
Staff proposed returning with elementary building maps and a school‑by‑school class‑size breakdown. They also said they will flag swing spaces, staff who work across buildings (for example a CTE teacher who splits time between JMMS and the high school), and the largest and smallest classroom sizes by grade and school.
The board did not take action on the facility maps; staff said the next step is completing elementary mappings and layering additional clarifying detail for board review.
