Pleasant Valley Parents Plead Board to Hire Additional Teacher

Parents of students entering third grade in the fall at  may have to wait until August to know the status of getting another classroom teacher, or send their children to  in a redistricting attempt by the administration.

Dozens of Pleasant Valley parents jammed the board room and stood listening in the hall outside the board meeting Monday night, as numerous parents implored board members and administration not to reduce a teacher for third graders, which would increase class size to as many as 28 students.

It was the third consecutive meeting in which Pleasant Valley parents expressed their concerns about a larger class size. The board heard comments from at least eight parents, which lasted nearly an hour and a half prior to the start of the meeting.

"The second grade classes had six classes with 20 to 24 kids in a class,” said parent Anita Knaack. “Four out of the five classes in third-grade will have 27 kids in a class. My child was in a (second-grade) class with 21 students, and even going to 26 in a class will be too much.”

Knaack said she has sent emails to board members and Superintendent Nina Zetty expressing her concerns, asking for an additional teacher to keep class sizes the same.

Knaack asked what the number is for class size before an additional teacher is hired for third grade.

Zetty said the administration tries to stay around 22 to 23 students in first- and second-grade classrooms—26 or 27 is acceptable for third grade. She explained that the "ding" number for considering an extra teacher is about 28 students.

Zetty said enrollment as of Monday morning was projected at 28, which prompted her to send a letter to Pleasant Valley parents asking them to consider transporting seven students to Bower Hill. The letter proposed having parent volunteers provide carpooling.

Zetty said an additional third-grade teacher is being considered for Bower Hill, which would cost the district an additional $70,000. Zetty told Knaack to keep third-grade class size at 21 students, the cost to the district would be about $210,000, with the need to hire three new teachers.

Third-grade parent Lori McRoberts is opposed to moving Pleasant Valley students to Bower Hill.

“It may bring the initial class size down to 25 or 26, but it could end up being 26 or 27 in a room,” she said. “Classrooms of 23 and 24 are challenging enough, and I can’t imagine what it would be like (with more).

“Secondly, I’m asking you not to take these children from Pleasant Valley and move them to Bower Hill. After they have spent three years together in a wonderful school, pulling them out the last year would be even more frustrating and distracting,” McRoberts said.

Parent Darcy Sefer presented the board with statistics she gathered about reported smaller class sizes in comparable districts including Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair, Canon-McMillan, Pine-Richland, North Allegheny and Seneca Valley. 

She said four of the districts she asked reported lower class sizes than Peters Township.

Another parent to comment was Sheri Morgan, who left teaching to raise her children.

“I’ve heard wonderful things about Bower Hill, but I want all three of my children to stay at Pleasant Valley,” she said.

Board member and personnel committee chair Cindy Golembiewski told Knaack, and the group of parents, that enrollment numbers are changing every day and that the superintendent’s office is following the numbers closely.

“This could all change, and you could actually be happy (with the class size)," she said. "To try to determine today what might actually happen is very premature. We’re watching this every day. What to say what is going to happen (at the beginning of the school year) is almost impossible right now.”

Zetty told the concerned parents that by the beginning of August, a better picture will be known about actual enrollment in the third grades at Pleasant Valley and Bower Hill—the administration will review the issue and the needs at that time. 

“We’ll watch the enrollment over the summer and see what happens,” Zetty said.