Class sizes at Longfellow and McLean?

[Anonymous]

How many kids per class at these schools? Similar to elementary school or much larger?

[Anonymous]

Max size is supposed to be 35, but sometimes they are bigger. English max is supposed to be 24, I think. Band, Orchestra….. are different.

[Anonymous]

When I worked at Longfellow my classes were 28 to 32. I think they are now as high as 35 in some cases. The school is ridiculously big for 2 grades.

[Anonymous]

McLean had the largest class sizes in the county last year for Social Studies and Science, and Langley had the largest class sizes for English and Math. It's how the staffing formulas work out at schools with less poverty, and Elaine Tholen certainly wasn't going to rock the boat to try and change that.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FCPS-SecondaryClassSize-2022-2023.pdf

However, the FARMS rates at Longfellow and McLean are increasing now more rapidly than at many FCPS schools, so I'd expect that to change over the next 5-10 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When I worked at Longfellow my classes were 28 to 32. I think they are now as high as 35 in some cases. The school is ridiculously big for 2 grades.

There's a different between class sizes and the size of a school. Overall, Longfellow isn't considered overcrowded now and the enrollment is down about 150 kids from its peak a while back due to two things: (1) moving the AAP kids from the Langley pyramid at Longfellow back to Cooper; and (2) the 2021 boundary change between Cooper and Longfellow. The school was also significantly expanded when it was renovated about a decade ago, so it generally has enough space. The issue is at the HS level, since McLean doesn't have enough permanent space for 2400-2500 kids (whereas Longfellow, with half as many grades, does have space for 1200-1250 kids).