Lake County School Board approves plan to fix class sizes

LAKE COUNTY, Fla. — Lake County School Board members met Monday night to talk about violations for administrators who didn’t follow state class size rules.

The violations could cost the district more than $100,000 in fines.

During the meeting, the superintendent came up with and board members approved a plan to prevent any future errors in reporting school class sizes to the state Department of Education.

The changes include putting students in virtual classes and adding more core teachers to schools throughout the county.

Lake County school's superintendent indicated principals and assistant principals who broke the state class size rules never had malicious intentions.

“No one should ever do anything that is acting outside of the law. Unfortunately there have been some misinterpretations but not done on purpose,” said Superintendent Dr. Susan Moxley.

Nevertheless, the violations could cost the district thousands of dollars in state funding.

An investigation into a complaint about class size violations at Lake Minneola High School led to the discovery of six county schools that were over the limit.

The errors represent roughly .12 percent of the total full-time equivalent students reported last year.

“That’s not a huge amount but it’s an amount to be reckoned with in a tight budget year,” said school board member Kyleen Fischer.

The investigation by the school district should be finished in a few weeks and some staffers could get reprimanded.

WFTV