Photograph by Robert Scheer
Two first-graders raise their hands for help in Keri McDonald's class.
By Torre Peña
Engrossed in her assignment, six-year-old Carolyn Kardach sits in a small plastic chair. She writes complete sentences describing her favorite part in a book called Frog and Toad Together. Her teacher, Keri McDonald, drifts between clusters of knee-high tables as she monitors the progress of her first-grade class.
Silently, Carolyn raises her hand. As mid-morning approaches, she still wears a white button-down sweater, warding off February's chill. The heating system at Saratoga Elementary School is on the fritz again.
In the small class of 20 students, McDonald quickly responds to the raised hand. Referring to Carolyn's Quick-word beginner's dictionary, McDonald helps her sound out a word and gently reminds her to add an elusive period. Carolyn has added her own words, "quack" and "reindeer," in the dictionary's margin.
"She loves to read and write," McDonald explained.
In the far corner, distanced from cubbyholes stuffed with backpacks and colorful art projects hanging on the walls, a lazy tile droops from the ceiling. Below, a water-damaged stack of files wilts under a leaky roof.
Taking advantage of a state incentive to reduce class size in primary grades, McDonald's class and all first-grade classes in the Saratoga Union School District have been reduced to 20 students or less. As the district considers expanding the popular program from kindergarten through third grade, a lack of space in deteriorating facilities poses a problem.
"One of our biggest challenges is facilities," said Lily Ogden, Saratoga School's principal.
Increasing enrollment, coupled with space needed for class reduction, strains the district's aging schools, according to superintendent Mary Gardner. A $40 million bond that goes before voters on June 3 would finance neglected repairs and renovations as well as new classrooms.
Despite logistical hurdles involved with implementing class-size reduction, teachers like McDonald embrace the program that enables them to spend more individual time with students.
"When the students raise their hands and have questions, I'm able to get around to them a lot more quickly," McDonald said.
Now in her second year of teaching, McDonald noticed a significant difference this year when her class dropped from 26 to 20 students. She takes advantage of more free space in a less-crowded classroom to divide students into even smaller groups for reading exercises.
"I believe there is more learning taking place," she said, "and behavior problems have decreased."
The state program to reduce class size gives schools $650 per child placed in a class of 20 or less. Next year the incentive will be increased to $666 per child. Under the guidelines, class size must be reduced in the first grade before other grades. Second grade must come next and then either third or kindergarten.
Eagerly rushing to implement class-size reduction, districts across the state have sacrificed special
programs and even library space
to make room for additional classes. Taking a more disciplined approach, SUSD has been cautious before plunging headlong into the process with all grades at once.
"Instead of going whole hog with all three grade levels, we wanted to be sure that we do each grade level well." Ogden said. "If you are not prepared, you can really throw your program into a mess."
SUSD had relatively small class sizes to begin with when compared to other districts in the county. As a district-wide goal, Saratoga attempts to maintain a maximum class size of 25 students. But recently, the numbers have been creeping up because of lack of classroom space, Gardner conceded.
Small class size is not a new concept in Saratoga, according to Boni Calder, a first-grade teacher at Foothill. When Calder began teaching in Saratoga in 1963, the district's policy had a teacher follow the same children for two years in first and second grade in classes that never exceeded 20 students.
"This is not new in Saratoga, but you have to go way back," she said. "Even in those times when overcrowding was such a problem in this district, low class size was important."
Before the new state incentives designed to drive class size down, California was dead last among all states in the union in student-to-teacher ratio. Class-size reduction is a big step forward to improving primary education, Calder said.
"Small class size is very important, particularly to get children off on the right foot. If we can keep kids from getting a year or two behind, it makes all the difference in the world," Calder said.
So far, Foothill and the other primary schools have been able secure the space needed to maintain their popular centers program. The program divides classes into small groups for more individualized learning with teachers. While half a class is involved with a reading lesson, for example, the other half is exposed to science, computer, physical education, art or other centers, under the supervision of a trained aid.
Insufficient space may jeopardize the program next year. The district is looking at creative solutions to maintain the program, Calder said.
The district is in the process of considering the option of expanding class-size reduction to the other grades. Most likely, class reduction will be extended to second grade next year, Gardner said. And that means finding more space.
"We don't want to take away from other students when we do this, and we don't want to compromise our libraries," Gardner said.
Swelling enrollment also has the district scrambling for more space, regardless of reducing class size. The district's 1996 enrollment of 2,181 K-8th grade students is a 32 percent leap from the district's 1990 enrollment of 1,646.
"We're looking at another 4 to 5 percent increase next year," Gardner added.
And a demographic study by Burke Consulting of Sacramento anticipates a 25 percent increase in enrollment over the next 10 years as new home construction continues in Saratoga. A 25 percent increase would add more than 550 more students to schools already bursting at the seems.
A lack of space means adding more portables. About half of the existing portables, acting as classrooms in the district, have deteriorated to the point where they are not in compliance with state architectural regulations, according to SUSD's maintenance and operations director Paul Tipton.
When it rains, some portables leak so badly that water runs down into the walls, causing the wood to rot. "They need to be demolished," Tipton said.
Addressing district needs by financing school repairs, renovations and construction of additional classroom space, Measure D on the June 3 ballot places a $40 million school bond issue before voters. Bond approval would replace portables with permanent classrooms.
"The bond issue is very important for us to continue to meet our growth needs and the implementation of 20-to-1 over time," said Gardner. "We can do it over a short period of time using portables but not over a long period of time."
Ballot language specifies that bond money can only used for facilities and is exclusively for Saratoga Schools. The bond translates into a $38.67 property tax per $100,000 of assessed value for Saratogans, according to Tramutola Company, the district's consultant.
Renovations and repairs focusing on health and safety needs account for $20 million of the bond. About $15 million is earmarked for additional classroom construction, and about $5 million would be used to modernize facilities.
SUSD's buildings and infrastructure, built 40 to 70 years ago, suffer from aging and neglect. At Saratoga School on Oak Street, some dilapidated fixtures date back to 1923, when the school was built.
Facility repairs and renovations include leaky roofs, faulty electrical and heating systems, corroded piping, sewer backup, asbestos removal, loose flooring and seismic upgrades.
Unreliable heating systems at all schools create difficult teaching conditions in the winter. "When it's really cold, it's hard to get the heat up to 60 degrees at Argonaut and Redwood," Tipton said.
And when it rains, Tipton said he and his two-person maintenance crew don rain suits before patching leaking roofs at Saratoga School.
"We're more like firefighters," said Tipton. "We just react to emergencies."
Down the hall from McDonald's first-grade class, custodians douse the bathroom with cleanser, stifling the underlying urine stench. Bits of plaster hang off the wall where a toilet was removed to make room for wheelchair access. Sewer backup and corroded pipes cause the toilets to overflow.
Receiving about 175 work orders a month, Tipton can't keep up with the work load. Unless the proper repairs and remodeling are done, preventative maintenance is impossible, he said.
Despite a median family income of $95,602, Saratoga is the only West Valley city that hasn't recently passed a bond measure or parcel tax for its schools. Saratogans defeated parcel taxes for school improvements in 1991 and 1992.
However, board president Stephanie Petrossi remains optimistic. "As a school board we have to be visionary and think ahead," she said. "I think one benefit that people will see is that the money stays locally."
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, March 5, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.