Class of 2024 Increases to 770 Students

In less than two weeks, the incoming kindergarten class has increased from 755 students to 770 students, Superintendent of Schools Steven Hiersche told the School Committee Wednesday night.

This would be the largest class in the district. In comparison, the current first grade class was at 706 students, as of Oct 1, 2010. Most of the current middle and high school classes are in the 500s. Most of the elementary classes are in the 600 range.

The bigger issue is that the Framingham School District is running out of classroom seats for the Class of 2024.

The School Committee has a policy of 19 students in kindergarten, plus or minus 3 - 22 students.

With 22 students per kindergarten class, the Supterintendent said there are "2 seats" left.

"This 755 number reflects real people who have walked through the door to register," said Hiersche.

School Committee members discussed what happens if more students move into Framingham over the summer. Hiersche said the district has averaged 15-20 students over the summer.

Last year at this time, there were 738 students registered, but the current class is at 718 students now, said the superintendent.

As seats fill up, students could be placed where the available seat is located, not necessarily the closest school to their home.

School Committee members discussed whether it would be more economical to hire an additional teacher or to pay for more busing.

If a decision was made to hire another teacher, only two schools could handle the extra classroom, said the superintendent. One is

Hiersche said as of today - 95% of the incoming kindergarten students have been placed into a school.

Hiersche also told the School Committee that 80% of the incoming kindergarten families had requested