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Bloomsdale Elementary Gets Additional Teacher

By Michael Boyd Jr.

eviccaro@stegenherald.com

A total of 60 registered children for Bloomsdale Elementary School means the Ste. Genevieve R-II School District will be adding an additional kindergarten teacher for the 2022-23 school year. The number of students is as of July 10.

The additional teacher allows BES to stay within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)’s recommended class size for kindergarten, which is 17 students per classroom for grades K-2.

The district typically enrolls 5-25 students between registration and the beginning of the school year.

Using the current number of registered students and historical data, the approximate number of students to begin the 2022-23 school year may be around 65-70 total.

This increase would put an additional three to six students in each existing classroom, which increases class sizes to 24-25 students. Superintendent Dr. Julie Flieg, as a former classroom teacher and principal, said she “can’t imagine” having to deal with such large class sizes.

Adding an additional kindergarten classroom would reduce kindergarten class sizes to approximately 16 to 20 students in each classroom, back within DESE guidelines.

“We feel like this is very important,” Flieg told the board, after recommending the addition.

Even in the scenario that Bloomsdale Elementary did not add any additional students, adding a kindergarten teacher would reduce class sizes to 15 students per classroom. This would be a solid classroom size for kindergarten and will allow teachers to provide more individualized instruction.

PROP SG CMAR IS APPROVED

Brockmiller Construction, Inc., was selected by the R-II Board to be the Construction Manager At Risk (CMAR) to serve as the general contractor and provide construction consultation to the district during and after the design of the projects in Prop SG.

As required in Policy FED: Selection of a CMAR, the board held a special session on Monday to conduct interviews with “top-quality offerors” Brockmiller Construction and S.M. Wilson and Co.

The interview regarded the two businesses’ responses to the Request for Proposal for CMAR.