Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 7, 1995                   TAG: 9509070044
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-11   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PUPIL-TEACHER RATIO IS DROPPING SLOWLY IN MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Tuesday night, in his annual first-day-of-school report to the School Board, Assistant Superintendent Jim Sellers presented this year's student enrollment numbers for elementary schools.

Of the 13 primary schools in the county, five have at least one class with 25 students. Only Bethel Elementary was able to meet the goal - 20 pupils per one teacher - established by Goals 2006.

"That trend is not good for me," said School Board member Annette Perkins. "We were really trying to get these counts lower."

When the board developed the 22-point, 10-year vision, it's goal was to improve education by alleviating over-crowded classrooms. Sellers said he's pleased with the 25 pupil cap administrators have managed this year.

"The 20-to-1 ratio is a goal we're trying to reach by the year 2006," he said. "I know we're lower than we were two years ago."

In the middle and high schools, Sellers said the average class size is still between 25 and 27 students.

Sellers said he's focusing on lowering ratios in primary schools first. Of the 16 new teachers hired for this year, half were assigned to kindergarten through fifth-grade classes.

But, he reminded the School Board, it's difficult to predict enrollment, especially for kindergartners who come to school for the first time.

Sellers assured the board that hiring new teachers would not be necessary.

Even still, several members expressed concern.

"I'm not criticizing you, Jim," Perkins said. "I just think we should move beyond this, soon."