The Kamloops-Thompson School Board Chair says it’s generally happy with the size of classes.

The average class size was presented to the board at this week’s meeting. The numbers are as follows:
• Kindergarten – 18.3 students per class
• Grades 1-3 – 19.9 students per class
• Grades 4-7 – 23.7 students per class
• Grades 8-12 – 23.1 students per class

“So we’re pretty happy with that., They’re manageable class sizes. We do have some classes that are over 30,” says Board Chair Kathleen Karpuk. She notes that all those larger classes are in high school.

“And they’re all associated with band pr physical education and that’s where larger numbers, especially with band or choir, is not a band thing because the more voices you have the more wholesome sound that you get.”

The report comes with class size and composition being a major talking point in teacher contract negotiations.

Karpuk says teachers are given the chance to say no if a they think they will be overwhelmed with too many students.

“With some of the classes it was a choice of you could have one extra student, otherwise that student wouldn’t necessarily be able to take that class and in those cases the teachers did give permission to go over those class sizes. In any case, any time any class is over 30 students the teacher has to give permission.”