NEWINGTON - A district enrollment spike has some Newington classrooms coming in above their class size threshold.

       That was the update Superintendent of Schools Bill Collins gave the Board of Education at its meeting last Wednesday night.

       â€�"Our enrollment is higher than we projected,” Collins said during a phone conversation the previous week. â€�"Not by much, but it’s higher.”

       Kindergarten classes, for example, would ideally cap out at 15 students. At Anna Reynolds Elementary, three of the four classes have 21, with 19 in the fourth.

       John Paterson’s kindergarten classes all hit 20 students.

       Once you get past Kindergarten, elementary-level classes would ideally have no more than 20 students, Collins says.

       But third grade classrooms at Anna Reynolds have no less than 24 students, with one of the four currently accommodating 25.

       Meanwhile, all three of Ruth Chaffe’s first grade classes have a count of 22. Two of the three second grade classes have the same, with the third hitting 23.

       One of the district’s preschool classes has 24 students-well above the ideal threshold of 10-he said.

       â€�"We knew it was going to go up,” Collins said. â€�"It’s a significant impact.”

       Collins warned of increased class sizes during a contentious budget process that saw the Board and Town Council Republican Majority at odds over a proposal to flat-fund the schools before the two sides negotiated for a small bump.

       The district lost two administrators while reducing one position as part of an effort to prevent teacher layoffs, but 14 instructional staff members are only funded for one year.

       â€�"That’s a one-year deal,” Collins said. â€�"Without those 14 people, you can do the math.”

       At the high school-level, class sizes can come in on the high-end as well, but mostly in elective courses that students take by choice, he said.