Barbara Lawlor, Nederland. Boulder Valley School District budget cuts will be felt at Nederland Elementary School in the fall when second and third graders will share teachers because of reduced staffing allocations. Parents who attended an information and input session last Thursday had questions about how it would all work, but seemed to accept the theory that multi-age classrooms are an asset to learning and interacting in the process.

Those who attended the meeting expressed concern about how the change would affect the student-teacher ratio.

NES principal Jeff Miller explained that the demographics have changed in the community: last year (2013-14) there were 279 students; this past year there were 263 students; and the projection for 2015-2016 is 243 students.  As a result, the number of kindergarten through fifth grade teachers was reduced from11 teachers to 10 teachers for next year.

Principal Miller says the school would have needed an enrollment of 275 students to have 11 teachers.

“The district knows how many babies have been born and the projection is that four years from now the teacher allocation will be 7.85. We need to be building mentors who will work with our kids over time; and the second/third grade multi-age is the best configuration we came up with. It allows us to loop, creating a cycle, helping and supporting each other.”

NES has had a staff allocation of two teachers for each grade level for a number of years. With the four-year projection, and understanding that reduced enrollment is a trend in the community, the administrators and teachers had to have a plan that would meet the needs for next year as well as for the future.

Having a good idea of enrollment numbers for the second and third grade classes, this configuration met the upcoming needs of change. Miller said the goal is to have a maximum of 29 students in the multi-age classrooms.

The second/third grade team will consist of Larissa Albright, Marci Decker, and a new teacher to be hired.

Horizon K-8 principal John McCluskey spoke to parents about his multi-age classroom school. “These changes are not about a lack of money—they are about a new progressive approach to education. There are so many possible ways to get excited about it. Once everyone gets over the initial bump, they will be elated to not think of the students as at a certain grade level, but to think of them as individuals. This way is not about national comparative models but about cooperative learning.”

One of the parents was concerned that her child, who had been a second grader, would be re-doing much of it next year. McCluskey explained that students will have the ability to move forward to a higher level and the younger students will see the potential of moving forward. He said you rarely see teaching standing in front of a classroom of kids at his school, that the students know how to do their own thinking and advocate for themselves.

Another advantage to the multi-age classroom is that the teachers get to know the students well. McCluskey said that the first seven weeks of school were different, that having the same teacher for another year gave them at least another month of teaching time rather than a month of getting used to each other.

Marci Decker, who will be one of the multi-age classroom teachers, says having three rooms to work with will give them more space for the kids.

One parent said she understood it was necessary to make this change now, but asked if it would continue if enrollment increased. Principal Miller said he thought that the program would become ingrained in the elementary school philosophy.

There will be another meeting for second and third grade parents on Thursday, June 11, at 6:30 p.m. at the NES library. Miller urges parents who have questions about the changes to call and schedule an appointment by calling 720-561-4800.

NES teacher positions for 2015-2016

Kindergarten: Johanna Gangemi

First Grade Team: Jill Morimitsu-Mahon and Jamie Smith

Second/Third Grade: Larissa Albright, Marcey Decker, and a new teacher

Fourth Grade Team: Corrie Beauvineau and Rebecca Vosteen

Fifth Grade Team: Tammy Forrest and Brenda Theodorakos

Teacher Librarian/ESL/Literacy: Mary Waddell

Preschool: Eliza Kraham (replacing Irene Pritzak)

Art: a new art teacher