By Jennifer Henderson

Some parents of students at Lagunitas School are frustrated with the district's inability to keep the size of the sixth-grade class down to its stated limit.

There are 33 students currently enrolled in the regular sixth grade class, but the district's goal is to limit class sizes to 25. Another five sixth graders are enrolled in the open-classroom program.

"I think the whole situation is inexcusable," said parent Valerie Cox. "The board should be working more closely with the administration to make sure this doesn't happen."

Added parent Kathleen Lowenthal, "I think that some parents may be experiencing some frustration, wondering why [the district] didn't see this coming?"

"It seems like poor planning," said parent Maya Goldstein.

"We have a big issue on our hands, and one that will take some time to resolve," District Superintendent Larry Enos told trustees told trustees last week.

"It's a high priority," he said. "We're working very hard on getting this resolved." At least for the time being, the hiring of a teacher's aide will help lower the student-teacher ratio. The new aide, who started on Monday, will cost the district $8,000 for the year.

Alan Charne, a teacher at the middle school, said the hiring is "an excellent temporary solution." He noted that having an aide in the class all day amounts to having two teachers for 33 students.

A lack of classroom space makes the issue more difficult to resolve. If the district were able to hire another teacher, there would be no space available on the Lagunitas campus for another class. Renting a portable classroom is expensive and time-consuming process, Enos said, and plans to build two new classrooms by fall 1996 make spending money on portables unlikely.

However, said parent Goldstein, "two new buildings next year won't solve this year's problem."

Parent Philip Davis has submitted a plan to Enos that may solve part of the problem. The plan involves hiring a teacher to take over the physical education class. Each of the six middle school teachers must teach four academic periods a day, plus a period of PE. Hiring a teacher to teach PE fulltime would free a teacher so that the sixth-grade class could be split.

Davis' plan "definitely shows some promise," Enos said. "We are looking at many options. I want to put something in place that is meaningful and that offers the students the best opportunities."