Daily dilemma

It’s like putting together a very large jigsaw puzzle, with more than 11,000 pieces, only the pieces are students in the Central Valley School District.

As more students continue to register for school, each day a group of Central Valley staff sits down to decide where to put them all.

Children at most schools should know who their teachers are already. Those who don’t will find out before school starts on Thursday.

“It’s pre-work rather than post-work,” said administrator Carol Peterson. “We want to be able to tell parents where their child is going before school starts.”

Each day the school buildings e-mail or call-in numbers for newly enrolled students, and the shuffling begins.

The process mostly affects those students who registered late in the year or who are continuing to register at schools with limited space.

“Those parents are told when they register” that there is a chance their children could be bused elsewhere, Peterson said.

This year, several of the district’s schools are at or nearing capacity. While there may be room at some schools, some grade levels are full.. Seventh-grade is full at Greenacres Middle School. Fourth-graders from Greenacres Elementary School will be sent to Progress Elementary. Kindergartners from Adams will be sent to Progress.

“If kids could come to us in little packages of 25, that would work better,” Peterson joked.

The class size limits are set by the Central Valley teacher’s contract.

The district has to decide at the last minute whether if there are enough new students in one grade level at a school to create a new class and hire a new teacher, or to overflow students to another nearby school.

“We really can’t create a new class for only one student,” said Assistant Superintendent Lise Louer. “Every time we have to add a staff member, we are adding $60,000 to the budget, so we have to balance that as well.”

The district will also provide transportation for students who are overflowed to other schools.