Mitchell Board of Education institutes class size guidelines for K-12 – Mitchell Republic

MITCHELL — When the 2024-25 school year gets underway this fall, there will be some new guidelines on how big any one class in the Mitchell School District should be.

The Mitchell Board of Education adopted a set of guidelines that offer a roadmap for scheduling students and classes to help ensure that class size does not outpace the ability of teachers and other school staff to effectively handle their classes.

“I think this is a great starting point,” said Terry Aslesen, a member of the Mitchell Board of Education, before the 5-0 vote to accept the guidelines.

The guidelines, which were brought to the board by an advisory committee and the district administration team and will go into effect for the 2024-25 school year, set a recommended class size for the elementary, middle school and high school levels. They set various recommended class sizes, leaning smaller with younger classes and those that may need more one-on-one attention and ranging higher for older students and for classes like vocal and instrumental music.

Some classes offer a recommended size with additional suggestions, such as the ability to add a maximum of two additional students per class, or noting that lab sizes dictate class size in most cases.

Overages on the guidelines will be reported to administration centers in the district as well as the board of education itself. The guidelines will be revisited on an annual basis after not having been a point of board discussion in at least 20 years, said Joe Childs, superintendent for the Mitchell School District.

The class size target numbers are more of a recommendation than a hard or soft cap, which had been discussed at a board meeting in December, Childs said. The figures approved Monday night are likely to flex as the advisory committee, administrators and district teachers provide ongoing input year to year.

The recommendations will allow district leaders to find a balance between maintaining reasonable class sizes, hiring extra full-time equivalents where needed or having teachers take on a sixth teaching assignment if possible. It’s also about ensuring teachers are supported in their classrooms and in discussions on how to improve conditions in them.

“We’ve gone around and discussed this with administrators and teachers, but we wanted to come up with some recommendations that guide decisions on increasing FTE where it’s needed, when it’s needed, rather than ending up with classes that are bursting at the seams because we have too many students,” Childs said.

Danielle Erdmann, a science teacher at Mitchell High School, addressed the board at the meeting, having gathered some classroom size recommendations for the district on her own. Some of the numbers she brought to the meeting indicated that the class sizes approved Monday night could be too high.

“Almost every single (class) is different. In science we have 24, and it’s listed at 28. That can make a big difference,” Erdmann said. “For the high school they are almost all higher than what (the teachers I surveyed) prefer.”

Aslesen said he agreed with Erdmann’s concern, but noted that the recommended numbers were still primarily lower than the notably larger classes currently being held. He also said the required annual review of the recommendations should allow the board to adjust those numbers to be more efficient.

“The recommendations are a lot lower than a lot of the anomalies at the school right now, so it’s much closer to where the teachers would like it,” Aslesen said.

Erik Kaufman / Mitchell Republic

Brittni Flood, another member of the board, said the new recommendations should provide better guidance to administrators and more support to teachers who have to deal with larger class sizes when they become necessary.

Feedback will be important to the process, Flood said.

“It holds everybody accountable. Before it was never a conversation at all. It holds us accountable, it holds administration and teachers accountable,” Flood said. “Every insight helps us. I think this is a step in the right direction. There’s never a perfect solution the first time, but we can work each year to make it better.”

Deb Olson, chair of the board of education, said she approved of going with the numbers presented by Childs and then revisiting the issue on a yearly basis. That will allow for further collaboration with teachers and administrators in the district, she said.

“These are guidelines. They’re not hard and fast, and we’re coming back to it next year,” Olson said. “I’m supportive of leaving it like (the advisory committee) has worked together to come up with it, then let’s see how it works and come back next year. If for some reason we’re way out there, then we have to make some serious changes next year.”

Both Erdmann and Amanda Sonne, another teacher with the district who addressed the board, said they were cautiously optimistic about the discussion and were grateful for the attention the subject was getting at the board level and hoped that it would continue.

“I think it was a productive conversation. I think bringing these issues to open discussion between teaching staff and the board is really a positive,” Sonne told the Mitchell Republic following the meeting.

The guidelines will hopefully only improve the student experience while offering important support to faculty at the district, Childs said.

“The benefit means more reasonable class sizes. It means students might get more direct instruction, or they might get more attention, and it means the workload after hours is more reasonable (for teachers),” Childs said.

The board also made the following personnel moves at the meeting:

• The new certified hires of Amanda Lynch, high school assistant track coach, $2,771; Matt Evers, middle school assistant wrestling coach; Stratton Havlik, middle school assistant wresting coach, $968; Macey Bohl, volunteer cross country coach, $1, effective 2024-25 school year and Caleb Sayler, volunteer assistant track coach, $1. All hires are effective for the 2023-24 school year unless noted.
• The new classified hires of Michaela Christopher, custodial at PAC/MCTEA, $19 per hour at 8 hours daily, effective Jan. 31 and Stephanie Baldwin, paraeducator at Mitchell Middle School, $18.75 per hour at 7.24 hours, effective Feb. 5.
• The transfers of Cheylee Nagel, special education teacher at middle school and high school to special education teacher at middle school and Shelbee Bunger, special education at L.B. Williams Elementary to district-wide behavior analyst, BCBA. Both transfers are effective for the 2024-25 school year. 
• The resignations of Claire Stoller, 4th grade teacher at L.B. Williams Elementary and assistant track coach, effective end of the 2023-24 school year; Jeff Sand, ELA at Mitchell High School, effective end of the 2023-24 school year; Trevor Krugman, sophomore football coach, effective end of 2023-24 school year pending suitable replacement; Scott Mullenmeister, head girls soccer coach, effective 2023-24 school year; Gracie Kattner, special education teacher at Mitchell Middle School, effective end of 2023-24 school year; Rayann Larson, 7th and 8th grade math teacher at Mitchell Middle School, effective end of 2023-24 school year; Trena Porter, food service at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary, effective Feb. 23; Jenna Miller, assistant debate coach, effective end of the 2023-24 school year pending suitable replacements; Jeremy Hurd, assistant principal at Mitchell Middle School, effective June 30; Doris Cordero, paraeducator at L.B. Williams Elementary, effective Feb. 20; Sadie Klumb, 5th grade teacher at L.B. Williams Elementary, effective end of the 2023-24 school year; Cara Blevins, 2nd grade teacher at L.B. Williams Elementary, effective end of the 2023-24 school year and Ashley Sand, 0.5 FTE 3rd grade teacher at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary, effective end of the 2023-24 school year.
• The new Mitchell Technical College hires of Michael Gerving, student worker, welding and manufacturing technologies, $15 per hour, effective Jan. 8 and Mariah Ulmer, student workers, center for student success, $15 per hour, effective Feb. 4.
• The retirement of Jimmie Nicolaus, maintenance tech, effective June 30.

Also at the meeting, the board:

• Declared the Mitchell Technical College student house No. 110 as surplus.
• Declared Bobcat L28 loader and attachments as surplus.
• Authorized purchase of a Bobcat UW56 utility loader.
• Declared a Ford F350 Super Duty Truck as surplus.
• Accepted the audit report from the 2022-23 fiscal year.
• Approved membership in the Eastern South Dakota Food Buying Group.
• Approved the 2024-25 K-12 school calendar.
• Heard board member reports.
• Heard the superintendent report.
• Recognized the state champion gymnastics team.

The next meeting of the Mitchell Board of Education is scheduled for March 11.

Erik Kaufman joined the Mitchell Republic in July of 2019 as an education and features reporter. He grew up in Freeman, S.D., graduating from Freeman High School. He graduated from the University of South Dakota in 1999 with a major in English and a minor in computer science. He can be reached at ekaufman@mitchellrepublic.com.