SIZING UP CLASS LIMITS

By MARILYN BROWN The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 29, 2007

TAMPA - Starting in August, more Hillsborough County students will turn to online courses, some middle-schoolers will begin their days in a high school and fewer students will win requested schedule changes.

It's all part of a dry run before the 2008 full implementation of Florida's class-size amendment.

"We can't afford to not get it right next year, so we've got to see where the potholes are this year," said Jim Hamilton, chief officer for district compliance.

How tightly the district sticks to its plan to operate as though every class has to meet limits remains to be seen, but changes are certain.

"I had a student ask me at lunch today, 'Can I come in and see you about my schedule next year?'" said Claire Mawhinney, assistant principal at Durant High in Plant City. It was the next-to-last day of school.

"I'm saying to myself, 'I hope she's not trying to get into a class that's already full,'" Mawhinney said.

Traditionally, hundreds of such changes were made well into the first three weeks of classes in high schools. No more, officials say.

"They may have to take an online course," Mawhinney said. "Some were used to retaking a class during the day. They're going to have to take those through adult education."

Come August, the district will offer more than 50 courses, including nine Advanced Placement classes, through its online franchise with the state's growing Florida Virtual School, said David Pirotta, the district's administrator of that program. Until now, the district courses have been mostly summer offerings.

Enrollment, FCAT Make Waves

Besides the class-size amendment, other factors responsible for the ripple effects that families will feel, officials said, are:

•An anticipated second year of flat enrollment, including a continuing drop in the number of middle and high school students. In the school year beginning Aug. 20, the district expects 191,400 students, about the same as last year, said Cindy Wood, the district's director of planning and related services.

•Changing all middle and high schools to traditional schedules of six class periods and assigning high school teachers six instead of five class periods. That will save millions of dollars by reducing the number of teachers needed.

•More students with low Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test scores taking remedial reading or math classes, restricting their electives.

"More and more kids are in intensive classes," said Pam Peralta, the district's general director for career and technical education. "You have no option but to put them in there. There are little ninth-graders that are not going to have any options."

Fewer sections of business, family and consumer sciences, and other career and technical classes will be offered, she said.

Deputy Superintendent Ken Otero, a former high school principal, said schools' flexibility is gone.

"Before, if I put eight kids in an Advanced Placement calculus class, we could put 30 or 31 in a math class," Otero said. "With class size, that went out the window."

Districts are phasing in the 2002 voter-approved class-size amendment. For one more year - until 2008 - school averages are required. Next year, individual classes must hit the mark.

Hillsborough's effort to do it a year early includes assigning even fewer students to a class than is required so there is space for students moving in to or within the district.

When classes do reach 18 students in prekindergarten through grade three, 22 in grades four through eight, or 25 in high school core classes and the school can't add another teacher or class, families could be in for a shock.

Turning Away Neighbors

"This may be the first time in the history of the school district that there's a possibility that a person could purchase a house within walking distance and not be able to go to the school," said Bill Person, the district's general director for pupil placement and support services. "This is a profound change we're facing."

That possibility is more certain for 2008-09 but could occur in the 2007-08 school year, Person said.

Assigning nearly 200,000 students to classes when families are constantly moving and children change their minds was difficult enough without class-size caps, officials said.

It may look more like college. When a class is full and another can't be added, students may have to wait until another semester, take an online class or take the class at another school.

A few middle school students have been taking a first-period class at high schools when a class such as geometry wasn't offered at their middle school, said David Steele, general director for secondary education. In 2007, entire classes will be transported first to a high school for a class before heading to their middle school.

An example: Turkey Creek Middle School in Plant City is losing its Spanish class, so students are slated to take it at Durant High School.

Not only secondary schools are affected. Questions await at both ends of the spectrum.

"The bad dream I'm having next year is the 26th kid in AP physics or the 19th kid in kindergarten," Otero said. Splitting the high school class with 13 students each is expensive, even if a qualified teacher can be found. A student or two may move or change schedules, leaving both classes low.

Steele said high schools will continue to work with students to make sure they get the courses they need to graduate.

"We are going to have to be a lot more structured and plan ahead a lot better," he said. "I don't see any place where there are not going to be dramatic effects."

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069 or mbrown@tampatrib.com.