by Chris Williams

The loss of a fourth-grade teacher at Seven Locks Elementary School next year has parents worried that their children's education may suffer, while school officials say there are benefits.

"I think it's unconscionable that they're taking away a teacher from a small school," said Julie Weinberg, who has two children, Emma, 5, and Zack, 7, going into first and second grade next year at Seven Locks. "It's not like we had four fourth-grade classes and we're going down to three. We had two."

Seven Locks currently has two fourth-grade and two fifth grade-teachers, but because the school does not have the number of students to fill all four classes according to Montgomery County Public Schools policy, one position needs to be eliminated. Until this year, the staffing policy has not been applied to smaller schools like Seven Locks, but because of budget cuts, the board decided to apply it to all schools in the county.

"We've had to basically cut $10 million that otherwise would've been in our budget," said Board of Education President Sharon Cox (At large) of Germantown.

The school will now have one fourth-grade class, one fifth-grade class and one combined class with both fourth- and fifth-grade students. The staffing policy is being applied to all schools in the system.

Class sizes in the fourth-grade, fifth-grade and combination classes at Seven Locks will go from about 24 or 25 students to about 29 students in each class, Community Superintendent Mark E. Kelsch said. The maximum number of students allowed in fourth- and fifth-grade classes is 30.

Central to the success of a combination class is the concept of independent learning, in which children work on their own for periods of time when the teacher is working separately with smaller groups of students. Teachers and administrators typically place students who are better independent learners in the combination class.

But some parents worry that the small size of the 263-student Seven Locks school will make it more difficult to identify those students. In one of several letters Seven Locks parents have written to Kelsch, parent Beatrice Fuller, who will have three children in the school next year, said the smaller pool of students could result in placing students in the combination class "for whom such a learning environment would be inappropriate."

"Such placement could negatively impact performances of all students in such a class and drain the resources of the teacher of that combo class," Fuller wrote.

At DuFief Elementary School in Gaithersburg, where the school has just completed its first year with a combination first- and second-grade class, Principal Dorothy J. Reitz said finding independent learners could actually be easier in the upper grade levels.

"The way the curriculum is now, children do have many opportunities where they're called upon to either read independently or work at the computer or to do some research," Reitz said. "I think a fourth- or fifth-grade child can better demonstrate that because the hope is as children move up in the grades, they become more independent learners."

Reitz said the combination class has been a success and that several parents of first-grade students have asked that their children continue in the combination class next year.

"Obviously, people think it's a benefit for the younger grade the most because they hear and are exposed to the higher-level content," Reitz said. "But in the same sense, the students in the higher grade also get that reinforcement and enrichment extension of the grade level before."

Weinberg, however, is also concerned that the fourth- and fifth-grade students will have trouble interacting. The children are in different age groups with different maturity levels, she said.

"There's a huge difference between a 7-year-old and 8-year-old," Weinberg said.

Cox said the mix could be effective, combining students with different skill and ability levels, allowing older students to work with their younger classmates. Reitz also said the social benefits complement the educational aspects.

"I think children learn from each other," Reitz said. "We talk about having a rich multicultural learning environment. Well this is a learning environment where the younger children can learn from the older children and the older can learn from the younger. It really fosters a sense of community and maturity."

Kelsch said there is always a chance Seven Locks and other schools in Montgomery County could break up the combination classes again and restore teaching positions if enrollment increases.

For now, educators like Reitz see combination classes as an opportunity for innovation.

"It really calls upon the community and the schools and children to look at different ways of grouping children, not necessarily based on what grade they're in, but also what skill levels they're in," Reitz said. "As long as we get to the same place in the end."