While some local districts are facing a budget crisis, Bettendorf is adding teachers and expanding one overcrowded elementary school.
The Bettendorf board of Education approved a plan March 5, 2016, that adds a 14th section of kindergarten through fifth-grade classes to the district over the next five years. It’s all part of a plan to try to keep kindergarten through third-grade classes at or below 22 students, and fourth and fifth grade classes under 25 students.
The additions will all be made to Grant Wood Elementary.
“Grant Wood was chosen because of its space availability enabling the addition of three classrooms over the next two years,” said a statement from the Bettendorf School District. “The school currently has more resident students living in its boundary area than the schools capacity will allow, and it’s centrally located within the district.”
“Although the district was projected to have a steady decline of 30-35 students over the next five years, the district increased 147 students this school year,” the statement said.
The plan begins with an additional kindergarten class, and an additional first-grade class, added to Grant Wood Elementary for the 2016-2017 school year. Grant Wood will get an additional class each year for the four years after that until they have three sections of each grade.
An addition will be built onto the school to accommodate the expansion.
