The Ketchikan School Board will decide Wednesday whether to add a third kindergarten teacher at Houghtaling Elementary School.
According to the school district, a higher-than-anticipated number of kindergarteners has enrolled at Houghtaling. Without a third teacher, the fifty-four students would be split into two classes of 27 students each. A third teacher would bring that down to 18.
Other district schools have kindergarten classes of 18 or fewer students.
If approved by the School Board, Houghtaling first-grade teacher Julie Bennett would become a kindergarten teacher there, and Ketchikan Charter School paraprofessional Michelle Pendergrass would be hired as a new first-grade teacher at Houghtaling.
Superintendent Robert Boyle says that unspent revenue from last year would cover the approximately $60,000 additional cost.
Also Wednesday, the Board will consider awarding a $350,000 contract to North Pacific Erectors for improvements at Fawn Mountain Elementary School athletic field.
The School Board meets at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Borough Assembly chambers at the White Cliff Building. There is time for public comment at the beginning and end of the meeting.
