NASHUA — A joint meeting of the Board of Aldermen and the Board of Education Monday night tackled the question of what to do about excessively large class sizes at some district schools.

“The concern is at the elementary level,” said Superintendent Mark Conrad. “We still have some very large class sizes.”

Alderman Jim Donchess asked what would it take to reduce the class sizes to a comfortable level.

“The difficulty you get into with class size reduction is it’s the most expensive (item) you can tackle on the budget,” Conrad said.

“If you have four or five classrooms across the district at Grade 4 that have high class size, right now the only approach we have is to hire an additional teaching position.”

Conrad said the research does not necessarily support the notion that reduction in class sizes results in better learning. However, at early elementary education, smaller classes do lead to better results.

The superintendent added that if more teachers were to be hired it should probably be done at the elementary level.

Alderman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja recalled when reading teachers were teaching in converted rest rooms, some with stalls remaining.

“I would hate to see them go back to closets and bathrooms,” she said.

Alderman Daniel Moriarty said that rather than reducing classroom sizes by increasing teaching staff 20 percent, he would rather increase pay by 20 percent “and take advantage of the number one determiner of student achievement.”

School Board chairman Robert Hallowell retorted that the school district is already competitive with other districts.

“We don’t have a lack of good people applying at this district. It’s got a very good reputation,” Hallowell said.

Alderman Dianne Sheehan asked to see the detailed classroom numbers, per grade and per school, rather than back-of-the-envelope averages.

“For me (classroom size) makes the biggest difference,” Sheehan said. “That makes the difference in whether or not real estate moves.”

School board member Thomas Vaughn said there’s a broad spectrum of opinion on class sizes on the board, and he sides towards decreasing sizes.

“There’s research that shows 18 (students per class) in K-3 substantially increases (results), greater achievement for students who may have been behind to begin with.”

Vaughn said the issue is one to keep close tabs on. “If you don’t look at it it tends to sort of boil up.”

The district’s total number of students was 11,896 last year, according to numbers Conrad presented at the meeting, representing an 11 percent decrease since 2001, when Nashua had 13,521 students.

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Simon Rios may be reached at srios@newstote.com.