Elementary Student Load. The Board shall provide an educational aide for kindergarten reading and math classes with twenty (20) or more students. The Board shall provide an educational aide for all grades 1-4 reading and math classes with twenty-seven (27) or more students during the reading and math periods of instruction. Twenty-seven (27) students shall be based on the daily average of actual student attendance by counting each enrolled student who is physically present in the class at least one (1) day of the fifth (5th) week of the semester and who remains on roll at the end of the week – that is, does not withdraw during the week of the count. When during the second (2nd) through the fourth (4th) weeks of each semester, the enrollment and actual student attendance is such that it would qualify for placement of an educational aide during the fifth (5th) week of the semester, and when the principal and employee believe the enrollment level will not decline for the fifth week of the semester, the employee and the principal may request early placement of the aide. The Superintendent will review the enrollment; and; unless there are plans to reduce the enrollment of the class, and if the class would qualify for the aide, assign the aide subject to the qualifying levels of actual student attendance, as defined above, being maintained through the fifth (5th) week of the semester. If the actual student attendance does not qualify during the fifth (5th) week of the semester, the aide may be removed, either immediately or at any time during the semester, at the discretion of the Superintendent. The Superintendent pledges to give serious consideration to requests for additional support in a classroom where the employee and the employee’s principal believe circumstances might warrant such help. Among the kinds of special circumstances envisioned would be inclusion situations where two (2) or more students with identified exceptionalities are present in the class, particularly during reading and math instruction. Another type of special circumstances could be when, after the fifth (5th) week, the actual student attendance becomes higher than the fifth (5th) week qualifying levels and no decline in enrollment is anticipated for the remainder of the semester. When a request for special consideration has been made and the Superintendent has determined that the request merits the relief requested, the Superintendent must consider all possibilities for providing relief in times of financial difficulty and when prompted by a request for special consideration, the Superintendent may remove an educational aide from a class which qualified during the fifth (5th) week of the semester but which class has declined in enrollment and actual student attendance below the normal qualifying level. Such a removal in favor of a request for special consideration would be limited to situations where, in the judgment of the Superintendent, the need for additional support in the new situation is significantly more urgent than that of the previously qualified classroom. This decision would not be made without consulting the employee and principal of the class and school that would lose the educational aide. Each principal shall determine class sections and groupings of reading and math (with employee suggestions) and shall arrange the scheduling of aides within his/her school.
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