Summit Initiative To Reduce Classroom Size (SIRCS)

In 2005, a group of concerned parents at Summit High School started a campaign to raise funds for the hiring of teaching staff to reduce the number of students in core academic classes such as English and math. The volunteer group focuses their fundraising efforts on the local community including parents and area businesses. So far, a total of $152,305 has been raised to fund teaching positions. Summit High School receives 67% of these funds and the remaining 33% are distributed to other schools within the district for staff hiring purposes.

In 2006 the funds at Summit High went to the equivalent of hiring one, full-time teacher by adding more classes to two part-time teacher's schedules. Two geometry classes were added which cut class sizes to about 30 students. An additional class was also added for 10th graders in honors English. This year the funds were used to add a second semester math teacher which significantly reduced the class size from over 40 students to an average of 25 students.

The remaining 33% of the funds supported the addition of one section of math and a foreign language class at Bend High School and Mountain View High School in 2007.