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Owasso Kindergartners Face Overcrowding
   posted 12:54 pm Wed August 20, 2008 - Owasso
   reporter: Kim Jackson      posted by: Kerri Gift
NewsChannel 8 - Owasso Kindergartners Face Overcrowding
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More schools are offering full day kindergarten. And when Owasso opened it's doors, the 5-year olds soon overcrowded classrooms.

Owasso, located 20-minutes north of Tulsa, has joined the early education trend. And now, they are re-arranging students and teachers. Kindergarten teachers like to have around 20-students, but in Owasso one teacher has 29.

Mrs. Jody Steele doesn't have a minute to herself. Every 60-seconds is assigned to 26 little people demanding her attention.

"No. I don't even have a desk, you can't sit down.. Its fun."

She's making the best of it. But it keeps her busy. In 15-minutes, she may go thru a few books, a few lessons. Whatever it takes.

"It's always on the go, because they have so much energy, so ready to learn and excited to be here. Some, their first time to even be in school. So they are all geared up and pumped up and can't sit very long, because they are five."

This is Owasso's first year to offer all day kindergarten. Many four and five year olds went to private programs. But now, they're coming here for free.

Mary Morris, principal of Bailey Elementary says, "It was a little scary at first, we had some parents that came in with concern and I completely understood their concern."

She understood, because her own son attends all-day kindergarten in Owasso. Morris says, "That was one of the issues the third day of school we looked at the class size and said theres no way we can leave them that big and meet the needs of all the individual children."

Other Owasso Schools are doing the same thing--shuffling teachers. Here they plan to take five students from four kindergarten classrooms, to make up a fifth class.

The transition should be figured out by Monday. That's when they'll have a new teacher and an assistant.

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