The Lawrence school district is hiring additional teachers to help trim the sizes of its largest elementary classes, with particular emphasis on keeping the youngest students in classes that are as small as possible.

As of Thursday, the district had bolstered personnel — hiring additional teachers, both full- and part-time — to ease class crowding in nine of the district’s 14 elementary schools.

Nine of the 15 additions came in kindergarten through third grade, the levels in which the district aims to cap class enrollments at 26 or 27 students.

Right now, only Sunflower School — with second-grade classrooms of 26, 26 and 27 students — is pushing that threshold.

“It is critical that class sizes are small enough that teachers can reach each child individually. Critical,” said Deena Burnett, who teaches language arts at West Junior High School and serves as president of the Lawrence Education Association, which represents licensed educators in matters related to working conditions. “I’m pleased that the district has made these concessions to alleviate our larger classes.

“We want what’s best for kids. And the reality is, kids deserve one-on-one attention.”

The process of assigning such “contingency” teachers to enrollment “hot spots” has left classes ranging in size from a low of 15 students in first grade at New York School to a high of 30 in fifth grade at both Prairie Park and Sunflower schools. The range does not include the two fifth-grade classrooms at Hillcrest School, whose 31 and 32 students as of Thursday were expected to welcome some relief soon, in the form of a part-time teacher to help with math and reading instruction.

The process for hiring such contingency teachers is unchanged from previous years, said Kim Bodensteiner, the district’s chief academic officer. The district typically holds back the equivalent of 10 or so teaching positions to be assigned in schools with classroom-specific enrollment pressures.

Last year, for example, Wakarusa Valley School had three such contingency assignments. With that school now closed, the same number of positions are being spread out among fewer schools.

Among larger schools where additional assignments are halting overcrowding:

• Sunflower, where an additional kindergarten teacher has allowed for classrooms with 23, 22, 22 and 22 students.

• Quail Run, where an additional teacher has split three third-grade classrooms into four, each now with 20 students.

• Broken Arrow, which now has three kindergarten sections: 21, 20 and 20.

With direction from the Lawrence school board, district administrators strive to keep K-3 classes no larger than 26 or 27 students, compared with a limit of 31 or 32 for grades four and five.

Last year, there were more elementary classes pushing the limits than there are this time around, Bodensteiner said, which is good news going forward — especially at the lower levels.

“In those primary grades … you’re really laying the foundation,” Bodensteiner said. “We know the impact of small class sizes is greatest at that level.”