School Committee member Michael Pise said there isn't enough room in many of the schools for an extra class.
CHICOPEE – The School Committee is vowing to take as many steps as possible to reduce class size, despite a tight budget.
But members and educators are discovering that even if there were more money to hire teachers, there would not be enough room to add classes in many of the schools.
The recommendation to cut class sizes came out of the committee’s MCAS Task Force. The task force, which included educators, parents and community representatives, studied ways to raise students’ test scores, which consistently continue to be below the state average.
“Studies show by reducing class sizes, you make the teachers more effective,” said Michael J. Pise, a School Committee member.
Logic says if a teacher has fewer students, there will be a reduction in discipline problems and a better chance to give students individual attention, he said.
Pise said one of the problems is that many of the elementary schools are crowded and there is no room to create an extra classroom.
Some of the elementary school grades have the maximum number of students allowed by Chicopee Education Association contract, which is 25 to 27 in elementary grades.
One of the possibilities may be to add portable classrooms to some of the schools, as was done this fall after the city purchased the former St. Patrick’s School to replace the 110-year-old Belcher School. The building on Montgomery Street was more modern than the old Belcher School, with a gymnasium and better parking, but it was short four classrooms.
The committee voted 10-0 to study the issue of reducing class sizes more in its facilities subcommittee.
Mary-Elizabeth Pniak-Costello thanked Pise and the committee for continuing to pay attention to reducing class sizes.
“The smaller the class size, the more learning can take place,” Pniak-Costello said.