Jackson district eyes bond issue to reduce classroom sizes

A stream of sixth- and seventh-graders flowed around math teacher Alyssa Blake on Feb. 27 as she pushed her cart full of pencils, markers and graded papers through the hall of Jackson Middle School.

Blake makes these trips between classrooms several times each day, careful to keep preteens from knocking off her two stacks of papers as they flurry past.

She has a room at the school that can fit 10 to 15 students -- fine for math strategies in which Blake works with struggling students on an individual basis, but insufficient for seventh-grade math classes with 25 to 30 students apiece.

She pushes her curriculum on a 3-foot-tall cart across the school.

One of Blake's big classes is in the school's music room, configured with static, amphitheater-style seating that makes it more difficult to put students into workable groups.

Alyssa Blake speaks with a Southeast Missourian reporter before heading to her seventh grade math class Feb. 27 at Jackson Middle School.Laura Simon

Even in the math classroom she uses later in the day, Blake cannot change where students sit.

It's necessary to use visuals to teach seventh-grade algebra.

In classrooms without illustrations fixed on the walls, Blake almost exclusively uses a computer projector connected to her Google Drive loaded with lesson information.

She has accidentally deleted links another teacher wanted to use as she hurriedly set up the computer in an attempt to keep from losing the attention spans of seventh-grade students.

Jackson School District communications director Meredith Pobst praised Blake's abilities as a teacher in her first year at Jackson Middle School.

Alyssa Blake teaches her seventh grade math class Feb. 27 at Jackson Middle School.Laura Simon

Pobst's daughter has Blake as a teacher, and this year, she has enjoyed learning math -- usually not her favorite subject.

Still, Blake can't help but think of the lessons she could teach if she had her own classroom.

"My job would be a lot easier," Blake said.

Blake is one of two teachers at Jackson Middle School who roam from classroom to classroom, the other being the agriculture teacher.

The school has two special-education teachers who have classrooms meant to be closets.

Art at West Lane Elementary also has been put on a cart, Pobst said.

The school district has been forced into this unusual teaching setup because of a growing student population.

Superintendent John Link said the district has added about 100 students annually over the past five years and 113 during the 2016-2017 school year.

While the increase does not sound like a lot, considering the district has about 5,000 students in seven schools, the ideal maximum class size is 25 students to one teacher -- and Jackson is adding four classes of students each year, Link said.

The school district has averaged 20 students per classroom teacher in 2015 and 2016 and 21 in 2013 and 2014, according to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education statistics.

In 2016, Gordonville Elementary had 16 students per classroom teacher, the fewest in the district, and West Lane had 21, the most for an elementary school.

Link said DESE divides the total number of students by certified teachers at a school, including support teachers.

Staff in Jackson's central office give much higher per-classroom numbers to school-board members.

For instance, eight elementary classes -- first grade at South Elementary, third grade at East Elementary, second grade at North Elementary and first grade at Millersville Elementary -- in the district are at 27 students or above per teacher, with the largest ratio being 30-to-1, Pobst said.

At the middle school the average is 28 students per teacher.

"I'd much rather have growing than declining any time," Link said.

In some classes of Jackson's fuller elementary schools, the student-to-teacher ratio is 30-to-1, Link said.

On Link's first week on the job last year, he had a group of parents waiting to voice their concerns about class sizes.

"Every nook and cranny, we have students," Link said.

The district is asking residents to vote on a ballot initiative called Proposition J for the April 4 election for $22 million in bonds for expansion projects throughout the district.

The plan includes a new building at Jackson Senior High School to accommodate ninth-grade students.

The junior high then would be converted to seventh and eighth grade, and the middle school would be converted to fifth and sixth grade.

The middle school would be expanded, linking two forks of the existing building over a courtyard.

North and West Lane elementary schools would be expanded. North, South, East, West Lane and Orchard elementary schools will be converted to kindergarten through fourth grade.

North and East elementary schools will go from three sections to four to reduce class sizes.

The projects would be started simultaneously and could be completed by the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, Link said.

Link said these infrastructure changes will lower class sizes to a manageable ratio of 25-to-1 or lower and accommodate a still-rising population in Jackson.

"Looking at Jackson as a whole, we've become pretty progressive marketing for business and retail growth," Link said.

Adding $22 million in bonds to the debt schedule, adds one year to the district's debt schedule -- with everything being paid off in 2037 instead of 2036, according to a district news release.

If voters decide not to pass the bond initiative, the district will continue to look to unorthodox solutions to solve the crowding problem.

"We're stuck with that," Link said. "We will be over 30 students in a class."

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 1651 Independence St., Jackson, MO