Trempealeau Elementary to add third section of second grade next year

Rising enrollment will force the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District to add a third classroom for second grade next school year.

The district has a policy that requires the district to add another class when its enrollment surpasses 47 students. That number is projected to be 48 next year, but District Administrator Michele Butler called it “very likely” that the number rises over the summer.

The addition was approved unanimously by the board at its meeting last Monday.

Building principal Sam Ruud said the proposal was in front of the board now so that the school didn’t have to rush to create such a classroom next fall—since they already know it’s a large group, the school wants to be ready, Ruud said.

“This is the game we’ve played. We wait until August, we try to play the cards of ‘Oh, will kids move out? Will our numbers drop?’ And very often we end up coordinating–including this, creating a classroom two days before school starts–hiring someone just days before in-service,” Ruud said at Monday’s board meeting.

“And knowing what we know and knowing what our numbers are doing, it’d be good to fill that now, get a quality candidate, have them here and have them ready to go at the start of the fall.”

The positions are in the preliminary budget for next year already, Butler said, later telling the Times that potential costs for such positions are not exact because pay will depend on the qualifications of applicants.

Once the school hits third grade in the same policy, class sizes can be higher because students are older and a bit more self-sufficient, Ruud told the board, also saying the class behind next year’s second graders is just as large so the district will have to continue to monitor numbers.