Padonia International 139 Students Over Capacity

Concerned Cockeysville-area parents met with Baltimore County Public School representatives on Thursday evening to address issues at

Figures show that the school is 139 students above capacity.

"It scares me to see what's going to happen," said Ann Bogdonowicz, a Padonia parent and PTA president. "How are kids supposed to compete against schools with smaller class sizes?"

She presented the idea that the school board should investigate where students' live and make sure they are assigned to the correct school.

, the president, said schools are already rigorous in ensuring accurate placement.

"If there's any kind of indication that there's a problem, we do check it out," Schmidt said.

Bogdonowicz is also concerned about the school building's lack of space.

"Any nook and cranny of this school is being used," she said. "We're having classes done on the stage and the school psychologist's office is in a storage closet."

Miko DeChet has four children at Padonia International. He said his daughter, a third-grader, told him that it's sometimes a challenge for the teacher to discipline a larger class.

"Our concern is what can we do now?" he said.

The school, which is designed to accommodate 311 students, actually has 450, according to Padonia International statistics. And it's the third and fourth grade classes that are largely affected.

According to Maryland school capacity guidelines, third grade classes should have 23 students each. However, both of the third grade classes at Padonia have 32 students. Fourth grade classes are supposed to accommodate 23 students, but both Padonia classes have 31.

Principal Kate Wolf said these figures are based on the number of students in homerooms and instructional groups are in fact closer to the appropriate ratios. But this does require teachers to stretch their instructional capabilities. For example, one second grade teacher is also teaching advanced third grade reading.

"We work really hard to allocate our resources," Wolf said.

Patch that Kara Calder, executive director of planning and support operations for the school system, said that relocatable classrooms are not a long-term solution and new schools may need to be built.