With schools about to open, Seneca Valley board members were forced to hire three additional elementary school teachers this week after the district got more students than it expected.

"In the last two to three weeks we've had an influx of new students," said district spokeswoman Linda Andreassi.

Rowan Elementary School got an extra 45 second- and third-grade pupils, prompting the need for two more teachers, and Connoquenessing Valley Elementary had to hire another teacher for a third-grade class.

"This [influx of pupils] presented itself very last-minute," Andreassi said. "Growth is always a challenge for us. It's a moving target."

Seneca Valley has an enrollment of more than 7,000 pupils.

Andreassi noted that last-minute changes before the start of school have happened before.

"We could have simply put them all in one class and increased class size, but because we're committed to lower class sizes, we decided to do it in this fashion instead."

She added that teachers' contractual obligations have kept parents in the dark regarding where their kids will be placed, but promised that parents of affected pupils would be notified after 4 p.m. yesterday.

Secretaries at Rowan began calling parents about 6:30 p.m. yesterday.

Principal Jeff Fuller said parents will not be allowed to escort children into school this morning, because of security concerns.

"Parents can drive their children to school, but we ask that they drop them off at the curb," he added. "We'll have PTA volunteers here to assist our children as well as our professional and paraprofessional staff, and we'll have them here for several days."

First Published: August 25, 2004, 4:00 a.m.