DIXFIELD – A new doublewide trailer helped Kathy Richard adjust for an influx of students in three grades Wednesday when school began.

Richard, principal of SAD 21’s Dixfield and Canton elementary schools, said she also had to combine some students into multigrade classrooms of first and second grades and second and third grades to handle Dixfield’s overcrowding problem.

“The doublewide gives us more classroom space and solves our overcrowding issues,” Richard said Thursday afternoon.

She said that for the past four years, Dixfield Elementary School has had three first-grade classes. Last year, another second-grade class was added and this year, she created two more third grade classes to keep the numbers down for teachers.

As of Thursday, there were 218 students enrolled at Dixfield Elementary School.

Of that, there are two classes each of first- and second-graders consisting of 15 and 14 students and a combination class with eight first-graders and seven second-grade pupils.

There are also two third-grade classes with 19 and 20 students and two fourth-grade classes with 20 pupils apiece.

Canton Elementary School started with 43 students, just like it did last year, Richard added.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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