LEWISTON — In Scott Emery’s kindergarten class on a recent afternoon, 26 bouncy 5-year-olds gathered around their teacher.

“Criss-cross, applesauce. Boys and girls, eyes up here,” Emery said as he prepared to read “Counting Crocodiles” at McMahon Elementary School. There were so many students, they didn’t all fit on the rug.

Emery’s kindergarten class is one of four at McMahon, each with 25 or 26 students. When the Lewiston School Committee meets Sept. 22, it will debate adding a fifth class, which is what McMahon parent Janet Beaudoin and others want.

McMahon PTO President Jodi Wolverton said 26 students in a kindergarten class “is way over the top. As a parent, you can’t scream too loudly.”

During the first week of school, Beaudoin volunteered in her daughter’s kindergarten class.

A few of the pupils don’t speak English very well, Beaudoin said. That makes it difficult. Others “can’t keep their hands off each other.” That’s common for 5-year olds, “but they slow things down. You have to stop and take care of it then get back to everybody else.”

She added, “If you’re not directing them at all times, they talk and talk.”

The teacher is capable, Beaudoin said, but with so many students, it’s impossible to meet the needs of each.

Beaudoin discovered that the Maine Department of Education has a regulation that states kindergarten classes must have at least one teacher per 20 students.

She brought that to the attention of Lewiston School Superintendent Bill Webster. The information was shared with the Lewiston School Committee, along with Webster’s recommendation that Lewiston ask the state for a waiver.

“That’s not a solution,” said Wolverton, who pointed out that crowded classes have been created by more students bused from downtown.

Crowded classrooms aren’t new in Lewiston, but they are new at McMahon, Webster said. Parents are used to having smaller classes.

Lewiston’s student population is 5,267, and has been growing by about 100 students per year, a trend that’s expected to continue. Lewiston Middle School has been expanded. A new, larger school to replace Martel Elementary is in the planning stages. A new redistricting committee was formed to recommend grade configuration and which schools students should attend.

Webster listed the sizes of kindergarten classes last year.

“Geiger had 25 students in all four classes,” he said. “Martel, 29 in each of two classrooms; the year before, 27 and 29. McMahon, 24 and 25.”

He paused, then said: “Would I like smaller kindergarten classrooms? By all means. But I need two things: money to pay staff; I need space.”

Lewiston is tight on both.

During last year’s school budget deliberations, three classroom teacher positions were cut, including one kindergarten teacher.

Crowded classrooms is a system-wide issue, Webster said. “We’ve got classes higher than we would like. We also have space limitations.”

According to the 20:1 rule, Lewiston might have to create new classrooms at Geiger, Farwell, Martel, McMahon and Montello, hire five more teachers at a cost of between $50,000 and $75,000 each, and rent portable classrooms at four schools at a cost of $50,000 to $100,000 each.

Webster will present a plan for an additional class at McMahon, but he’ll include the overall needs of the district. “If we do hire another teacher, we should do it where it’s most needed.”

Beaudoin, vice president of the McMahon PTO, said crowded classrooms at McMahon don’t make sense. Two years ago, the school was expanded to reduce class sizes. Now classes are more crowded.

That happened because Webster redistricted downtown students to McMahon. During redistricting meetings in 2012 and 2013, Beaudoin and Wolverton opposed downtown students being sent to McMahon. “Now, I feel like everything we did was for nothing because it all happened, anyway, as far as McMahon goes.”

As a taxpayer, she bought a house in the McMahon district. “The children who live in the same neighborhood should be going to the same school together.”

There’s room for another kindergarten class at McMahon, but there won’t be room to add an additional class every year.

Webster said when 10 classrooms were built at McMahon two years ago, “we needed another 100 students in the school.” The end result was to reduce class sizes district-wide, not only at McMahon.

In 2013, the Lewiston School Committee voted against redistricting and charged Webster with filling McMahon. That’s what he did. “We had people downtown interested in placing their children at McMahon,” Webster said.

Overall, the lack of space in Lewiston schools is a challenge, Webster said.

“Even now, McMahon has lower class sizes than Farwell, overall, lower class sizes than Geiger, Martel,” he said. “It’s not unlike what other schools have been facing for some years now.”

bwashuk@sunjournal.com

Lewiston student population

Farwell Elementary: 356

Geiger Elementary: 709

Longley Elementary: 358

Martel Elementary: 352

McMahon Elementary: 676

Montello Elementary: 734

Lewiston Middle School: 669

Lewiston High School: 1,373

Lewiston Academy (alternative): 32

Dingley School (in-house suspension): 8

Total: 5,267

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