Four Alachua County public schools not in compliance with Florida class-size requirements

Correction: In a previous version of this article class size numbers for the four schools were mixed up. The phrase "common core" was used, however, the term should be just core. Also Kim Neal, Director of FTE and State reporting used algebra as an example for class that could be out of size compliance. The district also begins looking at class sizes and allocations during the 10 day count. Class sizes are based on Survey 2 which had a date certain of Oct. 14.

Four Alachua County public schools are not in compliance with state class-size requirements.

Buchholz High School, Howard Bishop Middle School, Mebane Middle School and Oakview Middle School have core classes that have been reported to be filled with too many students.

According to the Florida Department of Education there are a set number of students that should be enrolled in core courses.

For prekindergarten through third grade there should be 18 students in a classroom; in grades four through eight, 22 students in a classroom; and grades nine through 12, 25 students to a classroom.

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"It could be that maybe all of their English classes are running at 26 instead of the 22 ... but those courses being over average potentially make the school over," Neal said.

This doesn't include all classes such as elective courses. The Florida Department of Education has a list of core classes with class-size requirements.

"The state goes by course, by room number, by the number of students and every class period. And that's how the state comes up with these averages," Neal said.

Due to these four schools exceeding the class-size requirements, district officials must submit a compliance plan by Feb. 1 stating how the issue will be addressed.

Here are the average class sizes for the four schools determined to be in non-compliance:

• Buchholz High School: 26.33

• Howard Bishop Middle School: 22.40

• Mebane Middle School: 25.50

• Oakview Middle School: 22.18

Neal said these class sizes could be a little over because after the October count was sent in and staffing and scheduling were completed, new students could have entered the district pushing the class sizes over.

However, local schools exceeding class-size limits isn't a new occurrence.

For the three consecutive academic school years of 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 there have been two schools that needed to draft a compliance plan to deal with class sizes.

Potential solutions to meet compliance

The compliance plan has to be submitted to the Florida Department of Education by Feb. 1. The plan will summarize how the district plans to reduce the size of core classes by the October 2022 count.

One solution could be to adjust the teacher course load, or add an additional qualified teacher to that core class which can bring the teacher-to-student ratio into compliance.

Another option is to encourage students to take the class virtually.

"We can't require it, but we can encourage it. We know our algebra classes are over, but we can encourage students and say, 'Hey, would you like to take this virtually and do it in a lab,' " Neal said. "That would reduce class size."

Another solution to reduce core class sizes is to limit the number of elective courses available.

"If you have too many electives and not enough core, then your core class sizes are going to be large," Neal said.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Four Alachua schools don't comply with Florida class-size requirements