Classrooms throughout the Astoria School District have been packed tight lately, with some classes containing as many as 29 or 30 students to one teacher.

Astoria’s youngest children, however, should be getting a bit of relief next year.

That’s because roughly 55 children leaving St. Mary, Star of the Sea School – a kindergarten through eighth-grade school – have enrolled in Astoria schools for next year, adding more children in grades where class sizes are already pushing the limit, said Astoria Superintendent Craig Hoppes. As a result, new classrooms will be added.

“We’ve hired four additional teachers,” Hoppes said, three at Lewis and Clark Elementary and one at Astoria Middle School.

Next year, kindergarten and first-grade classrooms at John Jacob Astor Elementary could hold between 18 and 23 students and second- through sixth-grade rooms would have around 25 students, he said.

The decision to add the classrooms was based on input the district received earlier this year from its budget survey, Hoppes said.

High priority

A majority of parents, teachers and community members made smaller class sizes in the lower grades a very high priority in the survey.

Parents from the soon-to-be-closed Star of the Sea also made it clear to Hoppes that they wanted to see the money the district receives for their students from the state going directly toward their children’s needs, rather than to the district’s bottom line.

Those class sizes could increase if more students enroll – either from Star or elsewhere, Hoppes said.

The district will be paying close attention to where those students are coming from, especially if class sizes in a grade start to edge up closer to 30 kids again, he said. While the district isn’t planning to limit incoming courtesy enrollments, it may have to.

“Having 29 or 30 kids is not good,” Hoppes said. “We’ll be watching.”