SALISBURY, Md.- Wicomico County Public Schools plans to redistrict its elementary schools in an effort to decrease class sizes.
Dr. Brian Raygor, Chief Finance and Operations Director with Wicomico County Public Schools says some classrooms are over 50% of the state’s recommended size.
"It's real important to provide some equity in that and make sure all of our students have access to classrooms that are reasonably sized able to get that more one on one attention from their teacher which is really difficult when you're looking at a kindergarten class with 29 5 year old's we just wanna bring some balance to that," said Raygor.
"We have a couple of elementary schools that are 35, 50 plus percent over the state rating capacity, while we have some other schools that are 20 percent below capacity," said Raygor.
Raygor said while the changes may result in some students traveling further for school, the district says it does not want any drastic changes.
"We want to try to not have students traveling too far, there will likely be some students that travel more, maybe some travel a little bit less as well, it just depends how those changes are made," said Raygor.
Joan Smith, President of the Wicomico County Education Association says smaller class sizes benefit teachers, but most importantly, students.
"Small class size is extremely important because that's how kids learn best. Teachers can apply their best strategies to meet their needs more individually than if it's a large group," said Smith.
Raygor says the changes will be implemented in Fall 2025. There will be a public hearing January 14th, and will tentatively be voted on by the school board on February 11th.
The public can also share their public comments here.
