Faced with a decision to increase class size or split up students mid-year, the Dripping Springs ISD board of trustees voted 4-0 to approve an additional full-time teaching position at Sycamore Springs Elementary School.
Trustees Mary Jane Henrick, Shannon O'Connor and Jon Thompson were absent for the vote.
“We’ve grown more than what was expected,” said Nicole Poenitzsch, assistant superintendent for learning and innovation. “Creative ability to offer some relief would be appreciated.”
Dripping Springs ISD is a district of innovation. This means trustees can waive a state enrollment cap of 22 students per class for kindergarten through fourth grade. As it stands, several third- and fourth-grade classes at Sycamore Springs are at capacity—23 students—according to the discussion Monday evening.
“Personally, I don’t approve of a class size ratio of 24 to 1,” said trustee Barbara Stroud. “I don’t think it’s really what we envisioned when we did the district of innovation planning in the beginning.”
With approval to hire an additional teacher, campus administration will now decide how to utilize the new staff member. One option is to reconfigure rosters to create an additional third-grade class. Another possibility is for the new teacher to assist with the class that currently has 24 students enrolled.
“The logistical challenge we have is to find a high-quality teacher to fill that position in February,” Superintendent Bruce Gearing said.