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There were more teachers in one overcrowded school district Monday morning.
We told you last week about the issue of teachers dealing with 26 or more students. Owasso has been overwhelmed with kindergartners. In fact, the district ended up with 100 students they were not expecting.
Diana Morris had 24 first grade students last week. That number is down to 22, but some of her fellow teachers had 30 or more.
"It was very crowded," Morris says. "Very confusing. Kind of exciting."
Kindergarten is still crowded with big classes ranging between 25 and 28 students. The budget is tight. There is no money and no sympathy from some parents.
"No, because it's my child," says Kimberly Cacciola. "I want to have sympathy. But, there are 26 to 28, some of these kids are coming in and have never been to pre-school before."
Superintendent Dr. Clark Ogilvie says they have added two teachers, but there is no way they can hire enough for everyone. He says the district is still recovering from the high gas prices last year.
"We budgeted 250-thousand dollars," Ogilvie says. "We spent 400-thousand. By the end of the year, that was 150 grand we could have spent on staff."
Ogilvie is limiting activity buses, including the band, which will not travel to a few away games to save on transportation costs.
"What we are trying to do is limit all activities to Tulsa County if possible," he says. "If those organizations want to raise money, we'll let them go."
Ogilvie is also monitoring class sizes and making sure there are classroom assistants.
This may seem like a lot of students, but they are expecting even more students to show up after Labor Day. Ogilvie says they won't make any additional changes until after then.
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