Current enrollment for kindergarten for the upcoming school year is 98 students with 4 sections. This means classes of 24 or 25 students per class. With class sizes over 20 students, our children will not be able to learn the basic fundamentals of reading and math which may result in poorer standardized test scores when they reach Grade 3. 

Per the Briarwood website, the class sizes range between 19 and 23 students. With current enrollment for kindergarten for 2013/2014, we are already exceeding these numbers.  Additionally, it states that Briarwood is committed to being a child-centered environment where children are active learners.  With class sizes of 24 or 25 students, child interaction and hands-on learning is stifled.

Our kindergarten program does not provide in-class support or aides for regular education students.  With classes over 20 students, our teachers cannot be expected to meet the demands of the national common core standards.  As a result, the future financial cost of not adding another kindergarten section based on the current enrollment will far outweigh the cost of adding a fifth section for the 2013/2014 school year.

We urge you, as the Interim Superintendant and elected Board of Education members, to do the right thing for our children and allow them to educationally grow in their first year of school.