PICKERINGTON, Ohio — Every action has its equal opposite reaction. The same is said for decisions. And, in the Pickerington Local School District decisions made have stacked up reactions that teachers say are hurting students’ education.
“Overall, classroom size is way too big,” Heather Peirano said. “We definitely need some extra space.”
Peirano teaches chemistry at Pickerington Central High School. Ann Lanier is a first grade teacher at Toll Gate Elementary.
“We don’t have any more room to put [students],” Lanier said.
Both schools in the district have been labeled as exceeding capacity when it comes to the number of students.
“If you combine our elementary school with a middle school, we are the size of a high school, junior high,” Lanier said.
Right now at Toll Gate, capacity is 700. Currently, there are 900 students.
“Last year, I had 29 kids in our classes,” she said. “Thirty kids in some classes. I’ve never ever seen that in my career, ever.”
In Peirano’s chemistry room there are 32 students.
“It is hard to get the one-on-one attention you need as a teacher in a classroom like that where you have that many students,” Peirano said.
The district has been dealing with a growing population for years, but bonds in 2020 and 2021 were both voted down. As time goes on, the district likens this problem to a never-ending game of dominos.
“It is, absolutely,” Pickerington Education Association President, Brad Harris, said.
Harris graduated from Pickerington. He won the state wrestling championship in 1996. He remembers when the schools grew so large they had to be divided into Central and North high schools. He now teaches at North and says he battles overcrowding every day.
“The reality is that even if there is a willingness to make smaller class sizes, we have nowhere to put the extra classrooms,” he said. “There just is not space.”
A crucial need that is playing out in many classrooms district wide.
“I think we’re failing our kids, but we’re failing our community,” Lanier said.
“It is crucial,” Peirano said. “We’re reaching that critical mass. We really, really can’t take much more and for the benefit of our students over and over and over…it’s time.”
Teachers say the overcrowding also leads to other issues like drop-off and pick-up, bus routes, lunch periods, tardiness and behavioral issues.
A bond put on November’s ballot looks to help.
If passed, the district says it will not increase property taxes, but will build a new junior high school, provide renovations to other buildings and add classrooms to both North and Central high schools.
“I’m afraid about what might happen if it doesn’t pass,” Lanier said.
Lanier has taught for 20 years. Peirano has taught for 24 years.
If the bond fails, they say the district’s plans for remote learning, modular buildings and redistricting is not ideal for students.
“That levy needs to be on everybody’s mind,” Peirano said.