Gordonville school joining grade levels to save money

In their two decades of teaching at Gordonville Attendance Center, Kathy Summers and Geri Beussink have watched enrollment dwindle from 80 students in the mid-1980s to 54 this year, and now an expected 37 students next year.

The continued decline, combined with severe cuts in state funding, forced Jackson School District officials to consider combining the school's first, second and third grades into two classrooms.

The decision would mean half of next year's second-graders would go into Summer's first-grade class and the other half, plus all of third grade, would go to Beussink. Third-grade teacher Robin Harbison, in her first year at Gordonville, would go to an open position elsewhere in the district.

Jackson superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said combined classrooms are not unusual, and more schools are considering them an option due to budget cuts. Under current budget cut proposals for the 2003-2004 school year, the district stands to lose as much as $2 million in state funding.

The grade combination would save the cost of one teacher, which Anderson estimates to be between $35,000 and $40,000.

But some parents wonder if the plan is worth the savings.

Bob Houchins, whose daughter, Jenna, is in second grade at Gordonville, said district administrators should move third graders to another school "instead of making half the kids feel like they are repeating first grade and the other half feel pressured because they are with more advanced kids. If you were the parent of a first-grader, you would not be happy."

Normal combinations

Jim Morris, director of public information with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said it is not abnormal for schools to combine grades to reduce teaching staff.

Missouri's 524 districts are required to report such combinations to DESE each year. The number of districts, both large and small, with combinations has risen from 16 in 1995 to 33 in 2003. Morris said he isn't sure if that increase is related to funding decreases.

Anderson said combining grades is not an indication that the district is considering consolidating students from Gordonville into other schools.

"We have to maximize our efficiency and still take care of our students," he said.

The district is anticipating 10 first-grade students, 15 second-grade students and 12 third-grade students next year.

"It's not fair for staff throughout the district to have 25 or 30 students in their class and another place just have 10," Anderson said.

Assistant superintendent Dr. Rita Fisher stressed that although the district hasn't yet decided how to divide the second-graders, it will not be based on student ability or intelligence.

Teachers' concerns

The two longtime Gordonville teachers say they have resigned themselves to their possible new assignments, albeit with some hesitation and concerns.

"When you're old -- I mean experienced -- and set in your ways, it's hard to make a change," Beussink said. "But I love this place. I do not want to leave this building, so I guess we'll get through this."

Neither of them have taught multiple grades before, but they've been told that the district will provide them with some special training to make the transition easier.

Since learning of the district's plans, Beussink and Summers have done extensive research on the issue during the past two weeks, and Beussink said they uncovered both positive and negative effects associated with combining grades. For instance, when teachers expose younger children to older ones, the younger children tend to excel.

But Summers said it might be tough to keep half the class busy on one assignment while she teaches the other half. "The kids will have to be more independent and task-oriented," she said.

Students at Gordonville already share lunch and recess time together, and the teachers feel that may help with any behavioral problems that could arise from combining grades.

"I think this will be easier for students to accept than us or parents. They just go with the flow," Summers said.

Parent Lisa McClanahan said her main interest is that the attendance center stay open next year, although not at the expense of learning. Her son, second-grader Troylee, already is excited at the prospect of having the same teacher next year.

"I have faith in the teachers there, and I don't think it will be a problem," McClanahan said.

cclark@semissourian.com

335-6611, ext. 128