Class sizes a worry at Congdon Park

The 20-plus parents, staff and faculty who attended a 2015 Think Kids community conversation on Monday evening fit comfortably in the library at Congdon Park Elementary School.

But the school's children are too crowded in their classrooms, some of the adults complained.

"What are we going to do for the kids right here, right now who are very crowded?" asked Leah Klein, a teacher at the school.

Congdon Park this year has two classes with 28 students, said Kathi Kusch Marshall, the school's principal. It also has two split classes, one with second- and third-graders and another with fourth- and fifth-graders.

Classes are split when there aren't enough students to justify a full additional class in a specific grade, Marshall explained.

Duluth Schools Superintendent Bill Gronseth told the group that the latest demographic study - more sophisticated than had been available in the past - convinced the district that changing school boundaries wasn't justified.

Moreover, a new district policy takes class sizes into account when parents request that their children be transferred to a different school.

"I can tell you that the transfer requests that have crossed (Assistant Superintendent Ed) Crawford's desk so far, the majority of those the answer has been 'no,'" Gronseth said.

As she left the meeting, Betsy Schwartz said the answers she heard hadn't been convincing.

"It would be nice to see what's going to happen in the next few years to reduce class sizes," said Schwartz, who has a daughter in second grade and a second child entering kindergarten next year. "And it doesn't seem like there is a plan."

But David Kirby, who has children in seventh grade at Ordean East Middle School and fifth grade at Congdon Park, was philosophical.

"The research shows that you have to reduce class sizes to 17 to 20 to make a difference," Kirby said. "Getting it from 26 to 24 probably doesn't make a lot of difference, but it costs a lot of money to do even that."

Both Schwartz and Kirby have children in split classes, and each said their child was doing well in that environment.

All of the parents who commented during the meeting spoke highly of the school and its staff, even if some thought more staffing or a smaller enrollment was needed to produce smaller classes.

This is the third year the school system has hosted Think Kids sessions in each school to obtain community input. Monday was the first day in this year's edition, which will conclude with meetings at Denfeld and East high schools on April 22. Earlier on Monday, a similar session took place at Stowe Elementary School in Gary-New Duluth.