DISTRICT OUTLINES CLASS-SIZE REDUCTION; LAS VIRGENES SCHOOLS BANKING ON WINDFALL.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Expecting the state to approve more money for elementary school class-size reduction, the Las Virgenes Unified School District has prepared a plan to add teachers and classroom space for kindergartners.

``We're certainly going ahead as if it's going to happen,'' said Donald Zimring, assistant superintendent of business services for the district. ``The problem is that we had nowhere to put the classes. Every school site has developed a plan.''

The program, which began last year, provided $771 million to districts around the state to shrink three grade levels to 20 students per class. The state required that districts reduce first-grade classes first, and then reduce two of three grade levels among kindergarten, second or third grades.

Las Virgenes implemented the program in phases, reducing first-grade classes in the fall by adding 12 rooms and teachers. It followed with second- and third-grade classes in the spring by adding 30 classes and teachers.

The expanded program would allow Las Virgenes to shrink every grade from kindergarten through third grade, requiring the district to create eight to 12 new classes without relying on portable classrooms, which are no longer available because of the statewide demand, Zimring said.

``You just can't find them,'' Zimring said.

As a result, some school administrators have come up with arrangements in which two kindergarten classes would share a common area by rotating outdoor playtime and classroom time throughout the day, Zimring said.

Other schools will have it easier. Since kindergarten classes last only about three hours, some schools will simply offer morning and afternoon classes, Zimring said.

Planning for the additional classes has been particularly difficult for the district since educators decided from the start that they would not use libraries, computer labs or other schoolwide space as classrooms.

District officials hope to make more permanent arrangements for the new classes by convincing voters to pass a facilities bond issue in the November election. The school board is scheduled to decide Monday whether to place the issue on the ballot.

Should construction money become available, projects would begin next June to create more classroom space, Zimring said.

The district also has taken steps to hire about 12 new teachers to accommodate the additional classes. Though kindergarten classes are shorter than all other grade levels, kindergarten teachers by state law are allowed to teach only one class in a school year, Zimring said. In addition, school districts cannot hire part-time kindergarten teachers to teach a morning or afternoon session.

Under the reduction program, districts qualify for the state funding only if classes have 20 or fewer students, Zimring said, which means that administrators must juggle students to other campuses if it looks like a school will have a cluster of 21 or more students in a particular grade.