Geneva D304 looking to keep target class sizes with projected population changes

A facility capacity analysis for Geneva District 304 shows the district has room to grow and the ability to maintain reasonable class sizes, officials said Monday night.

But there is room for improved efficiency and consistency among the district’s six elementary schools, Superintendent Andrew Barrett said in his report.

“We have been talking about this and preparing for this a lot, so I want to give you a little foreshadowing,” Barrett said. “We started the year with our demographic study and have been working through our facility capacity analysis. We want to look at both of those two things together, looking at our strategic plan with that first goal of processing through our enrollment.”

The district needs a system that is reasonable, equitable and sustainable, Barrett said.

“What is a reasonable expectation for maximizing our scheduling efficiency? And how can we ensure consistent and equitable experiences for kids all across our district?” Barrett said. “This isn’t as easy as doing a simple calculation: ‘This is how many kids.’ There’s not necessarily one right answer.”

A room-by-room analysis of how each space in the district is used showed a lot of variables, Barrett said, especially since the district’s buildings are used differently now than when they were first designed.

Now the district has full-day kindergarten and its own preschool, the Geneva Early Learning Program, and unique programming that it didn’t have before, he said.

The maximum operational capacity assumes 100% efficiency in achieving class size targets in all learning spaces – which is impossible and undesirable, he said.

“There is no way a school district would ever ensure that every kid in every classroom is going to have exactly this many kids,” Barrett said.

The state asks how much square footage and then says this is how many kids you should have, he said.

The district has 5,119 students enrolled.

“One of the pieces of data we’re looking at (is) what are our ideal class size targets in all of our grades across the district?” Barrett said. “How many kids can all of our kindergarten classrooms hold if there’s 21 kids in each? How many kids could our eighth grade classes hold if we have 24 in each?”

Consider that Calculus BC – a college-level course at the high school – is not going to have 25 students willing to enroll in it, he said. And there’s not going to be more students in a ceramics class than the art room has space for.

“What are the big ideas that we have so far?” Barrett said. “The first – that is great – we have sustainable room for growth consistent with the needs outlined in our demographics study.”

The demographic study shows a small dip in enrollment followed by a small increase, with significant demographic changes in the community.

“We have capacity to sustain that,” Barrett said. “We have the opportunity to maintain our reasonable class sizes across the district. That’s really great news, too. There is room for improved efficiency, consistency across our elementary schools.”