Request By:
Mr. Steve Frommyer
Instructional Supervisor
Eminence Public Schools
Eminence, Kentucky 40019
Opinion
Opinion By: Chris Gorman, Attorney General; Anne E. Keating, Assistent Attorney General
You have requested an opinion from this office concerning whether fourth grade students may be allowed to be in ungraded classrooms with students from the primary school (K-3). You indicated that when a decision was made to put the fifth grade in the middle school, the fourth grade was left isolated from all other grades in the elementary school unless fourth grade students could be allowed to be involved in the ungraded approach.
At present, fourth grade students may not participate in a joint class with ungraded students, due to a prohibition in KRS 157.360(5) which states in part:
In combined classes other than the primary grades, no ungraded students shall be placed in a combined class with graded students.
Note, however, that KRS 157.360(4) sets limits on class size for classes combining students from two or more grade levels, including grade 4, and provides in part:
The chief state school officer, upon approval of the State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education, shall adopt administrative regulations for enforcing this provision. These administrative regulations shall include procedures for a superintendent to request an exemption from the State Board for Elementary and Secondary Education when unusual circumstances warrant an increased class size for an individual class. A request for an exemption shall include specific reasons for the increased class size with a plan for reducing the class size prior to the beginning of the next school year. A district shall not receive in any one (1) year exemptions for more classes than enroll twenty percent (20%) of the pupils in the primary grades and grades four (4) through eight (8).
Upon consultation with the Department of Education, this office has learned that the State Board is already considering waivers under the authority of KRS 157.360(4). The waiver process addresses the kind of situation that you are experiencing. Accordingly, you may wish to be in touch with:
Kentucky Department of Education Office of Learning Programs Development Division of Early Childhood The Primary School Branch 500 Mero Street Frankfort, Kentucky 40601