Orland back in classroom

Smiling faces brought Orland Unified School District campuses alive Monday as students began the 2010-11 school year.

Enrollments are up in all four schools compared to the end of last year, first-day records show.

Those numbers will change as some students add their names to the rosters and others are no-shows, school officials said.

With 495 students enrolled in kindergarten to second grade at Mill Street Elementary, the student population is up by 16 from the end of the 2009-10 school year.

Principal Kelly Haight, who will work without an assistant principal this year, said there are two significant changes.

Kindergarten has been extended, running from 8:20 a.m. to 1:25 p.m. to make sure students get all the required material. It also will make a special education teacher available for interventions in kindergarten and first grade.

Haight said teachers got together during the summer, on their own time, to discuss common lesson plans, pacing guides and assessments.

Now, when they meet in their weekly professional learning communities, the teachers will be able to focus on the students, Haight said.

Also coming out of the summer meetings, teachers will write learning objectives on the chalkboard.

Class size is an issue for parents, teachers and administrators, as the school district has had to tightened its financial belt.

The kindergarten classes have 29-30 students each. First and second grades vary from 27-29 per classroom.

District Superintendent Chris von Kleist said he once enrollments are stable, he will make sure the kindergarten classes are no larger than 25. He will add teachers if necessary, he said.

Fairview Elementary — home the Orland Unified School District's third, fourth and fifth graders — had 500 students signed up on the first day, seven more than when school got out.

On Monday, third-grade classes ranged from 28-30 students; fourth grade classrooms had 31-32; and all fifth grade classrooms had 30.

"If the numbers keep going up, we'll have to add staff," principal Steve Hiscock said.

He expects enrollments to be at capacity before everything settles down.

Hiscock's biggest challenge will be holding principal duties at Fairview and C.K. Price Middle School. He plans to spend most of his time on the C.K. Price campus, but will be at Fairview in the morning.

He will get help at both schools from Chris Boyles, who will add Fairview to his duties as assistant principal at C.K. Price. Boyles will start the day at C.K. Price, then head to Fairview when Hiscock leaves.

Rounding out the team will be Tracy Sailsbery, who will continue teaching English Language Development in the morning, then shift to being assistant principal at C.K. Price in the afternoon.

The sixth- to eighth-grade rosters at C.K. Price contained 554 names Monday, 10 more than when school let out in the spring.

The biggest increase is at the high school. Principal Jeff Scheele reported 50 more students this fall than what finished last year. Enrollment jumped from 650 to 700. An additional 22 students signed up for independent study.

Scheele said many students are returning to Orland schools from outlying districts.

"The No. 1 reason they're here is for our AP (advanced placement) and CTE (career technical education) course selection," he said.

Tightened budgets have resulted in reduced or eliminated advance placement and vocational-technical programs in other school districts, Scheele said.

Von Kleist said he looks forward to a year of progress and improvement.

Spring test scores already show the overall district average is up, with Orland having "the highest biology test scores in the county," he said.

Those scores skyrocketed by 54 percent over the year before.

Look for more details about standardized test scores in Saturday's Orland Press-Register.