Alice Gustafson School To Get Extra 4th Grade Section After All

Parents of incoming fourth graders at a west-side Batavia school on Thursday afternoon received some good news.

An additional section of fourth grade has been approved for , said Jan Wright, the school's principal, in an online message sent out Thursday.

That means there will be three sections of fourth grade classrooms this year instead of the two sections originally proposed. against the two-section plan, citing who will be in that grade this year.

Marcia McBeath, who was originally supposed to teach fifth grade this year, will now be a fourth-grade teacher. McBeath has taught fourth grade for many years, Wright said.

The district already posted an opening to hire a new fifth-grade teacher to cover what would have been McBeath's students. The teacher will be ready for students by August 23, the first day of school, Wright said.

"I would like to thank all of the parents who supported our school regarding this issue by attending school board meetings and other communication to Board members and administration," Jan Wright said in the message. "In these tough economic times, very difficult decisions have to be made. It was great to see the AGS community and the School Board collaborate to resolve this issue."

Another Classroom, Another Cost

The original proposed classroom change was one in a series of cuts proposed across Batavia Public Schools to shrink a $5 million budget deficit for the 2011-12 school year.

To pay for the extra teacher, the district reduced school building budgets by a combined total of $61,000, said Batavia Superintendent Jack Barshinger in an e-mail to Batavia Patch on Thursday.

Staff additions such as the one at Alice Gustafson mean changes have to be made elsewhere. The School Board made it clear that the district cannot increase its deficit, Barshinger said.

Updates for AGS Fourth-Grade Parents

• The teacher your child is assigned to in PowerSchool may not end up as your child's actual teacher. The school needs a few days to update the system with the correct listings.
• Welcome letters for students across the district will be mailed out tomorrow (Friday). Due to the change, the school will not be able to send the fourth grade letters until next week.

Updates for AGS Fifth-Grade Parents

• The original welcome letters from Mrs. McBeath will no longer go out. The school will try to have a letter from the new teacher sent out prior to the start of school.
  

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