Parents voice concerns over class sizes at Cushman Elementary

A presentation about the overall health of the Dartmouth School District ended in a heated exchange over class sizes at Cushman Elementary School. 

Parents voiced their concerns about crowded kindergarten classes at Cushman Elementary. As of now, there are 24 kindergartners to two adults in a class, which includes a certified teacher and a teaching assistant. The average number of students in the district’s K-5 classes is 21. 

“We recognize that there was an unexpected level of enrollment in this year’s kindergarten class at the Cushman school,and that is unfortunate,” said Assistant Superintendent James Kiely during the presentation on Wednesday, March 6 at the Dartmouth High School.

The school district hired teaching assistants in September to help with Cushman’s higher than expected class sizes.

Dartmouth resident and parent Ryan Moniz, whose son attends one of the three kindergarten classes at Cushman, said the overcrowding is causing students to become unruly and to misbehave. Moniz said he’s worried that this disruption will interfere with his son’s education. 

“It’s not the teachers’ fault,” Moniz said. “It’s not the principal’s fault. There’s just too many kids in the classroom.”

Superintendent June Saba-Maguire said the school district is working with a third party, the New England School Development Council, to project future student enrollment. This will help the school district to anticipate the number of teachers and classrooms it will need in the coming decade to avoid large class sizes and understaffed classrooms.

The current projections show a decrease in student enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year due partly to lower birth rates. In light of these predictions, Saba-Maguire said they will not be adding another kindergarten teacher to Cushman Elementary at this time.  

“At this point, we do not anticipate adding another kindergarten teacher,” Saba-Maguire said. “What we will do is closely monitor kindergarten enrollment.”

To ensure their predictions are current, the school district encourages parents to enroll their kindergartners as soon as possible to give the district an accurate count of the number of students.

“In the event that we do see increased enrollment that doesn’t match what NESDEC has projected , we would have to have a conversation about whether or not we would need to add an additional teacher,” she said. 

During the forum, Saba-Maguire responded to parents’ concerns that families may send their children to other school districts or private schools to avoid large class sizes at Cushman. 

“The last thing we want to hear from our residents is that you're looking at moving your students out of our school district,” Saba-Maguire said. “We want your students here in the Dartmouth Public Schools, in the community that they live in and where they belong.”