OKEECHOBEE– The Okeechobee County School Board will reorganizing at the upcoming monthly meeting on Nov. 17.

Board members will elect a chairperson and vice chairperson and recently reelected members Amanda Riedel and Malissa Morgan will be sworn in by Judge William Hendry.

Students being recognized at this month’s meeting include members of the OHS Bass Club, and OHS FFA Aquaculture, Meat Judging, Parliamentary Procedure, and Vegetable Judging teams.

Among the items in the consent agenda will be a request to allow a temporary exceeding of maximum class sizes at schools in Okeechobee.

Currently the maximum class size for kindergarten through third grade is 18, 22 in fourth through eighth, and 25 in ninth through twelfth. The consent agenda item would increase those numbers to 21, 27, and 30 respectively.

In the background information of the item, the school district says that, if approved, it would lead to less disruption of the educational process by reducing the need to move students and teachers to meet class size. The district would develop a plan to be in compliance again with the maximum class size by October 2021.

In an open letter to the Okeechobee County School Board sent to the Lake Okeechobee News, a community member voiced their opposition to the move.

“We are in the middle of a global pandemic,” read the letter. “You cannot socially distance 22 students per class much less increase that to 27 and stay within the CDC recommendations. Even without the pandemic - the state of Florida mandated class size in effort to increase student academic success. Increasing the number of students that a teacher must provide an exemplary education to greatly decreases the amount of student success.”

The Okeechobee County School Board meeting begins at 6 p.m. on Nov. 17.

View the Nov.  17 agenda here.