Dear Editor,
Do you know how many children will be attending your child’s school next year? Do you know what the class size will be for your sixth- and seventh-graders next year? I urge the parents and the taxpayers of the Hollister School District to start asking the superintendent and the board of trustees why next year Gabilan Hills will have 755 children scheduled to attend school at that site and why Marguerite Maze will have 777 students. Why will Gabilan Hills have an increase of 12.9 percent in student population since 2005-06? Why will Marguerite Maze have a decrease of 29.7 percent in school population since 2005-06? Why will Rancho San Justo have a scheduled school population of 977 for next year at a 20 percent increase in population over Marguerite Maze Middle School? Why will sixth- and seventh-graders at Marguerite Maze Middle School and Rancho San Justo be in class sizes of 32 to 35 and sixth- and seventh-graders at Gabilan Hills will have class sizes of 27 to 30?
Parents should ask the board of trustees why they are not ensuring that every child have similar class sizes per grade level and equity in programs offered. Library and computer lab use will not be available throughout the day at Marguerite Maze Middle School because the school population will not be high enough to warrant these services due to staffing ratio guidelines adopted by the school board in 2002. However, the students at Rancho San Justo will receive library and computer lab use throughout the entire day.
I urge all parents to come to the school board meetings to ask these questions. The charter of the board of trustees is to hear how parents and taxpayers feel about how students, services, facility use and funds are distributed within the district. The board will be meeting on March 4 and March 11 at 5:00 p.m. and March 18 at 6:00 p.m. at 2690 Cienega Road. The numbers I have used in this writing come from the Hollister School District Board packet dated February 26, 2008.
Jan Grist, Hollister
