Exceeding class sizes

[Anonymous]

At our orientation last night, we learned our child's first grade class has 28 students. I thought the cap was 26 this year? The school said they are hiring a part-time teacher to supplement, but the class will still be at 28 most of the time. What happens in these situations?

[Anonymous]

How many first grade classes are there and are they all at or over 26 kids? That's when a full extra teacher gets hired. (I'm assuming you're correct about the 26. I don't know the 1st grade limit.)

But I've seen them exceed limits when there's a reason. For example, two students were added to a full class because one of the kids in there spoke French & English and the two students were new to the US and only spoke French. (This was 5th grade and it tipped the class to 32 when limit was lower. Teacher could totally handle that number of kids, tho.)

[Anonymous]

The class size numbers are just guidelines, not caps or limits.

[Anonymous]

Nothing new here. In MoCo, a W feeder, we had more students than that back in the 70's

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing new here. In MoCo, a W feeder, we had more students than that back in the 70's

Thanks data point Mee-maw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many first grade classes are there and are they all at or over 26 kids? That's when a full extra teacher gets hired. (I'm assuming you're correct about the 26. I don't know the 1st grade limit.)

But I've seen them exceed limits when there's a reason. For example, two students were added to a full class because one of the kids in there spoke French & English and the two students were new to the US and only spoke French. (This was 5th grade and it tipped the class to 32 when limit was lower. Teacher could totally handle that number of kids, tho.)

One is at 26 and the other is at 28. There were 3 classes last year, but a teacher left over the summer, and now there are only 2.

I was going off this document: https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/mcps-news/2024/04/class-size/

[Anonymous]

Our elementary school told us every class had to be at least two over the cap for the grade to get an additional teacher. So for first grade, we had to get 28 across all the classes even though the limit is 26 (which makes no sense to me).

[Anonymous]

I thought the first grade limit was 27 or 28. And I think they have to have a class that has at least 2 over that to get an extra teacher - so that would be 29 or 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought the first grade limit was 27 or 28. And I think they have to have a class that has at least 2 over that to get an extra teacher - so that would be 29 or 30.

These are the current guidelines:

Kindergarten: 25

Grades 1–2: 26

Grade 3: 27

Grades 4-5: 29

[Anonymous]

It is possible people registered late so they were not able to hire another teacher. But OP you could definitely reach out to the principal for more information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary school told us every class had to be at least two over the cap for the grade to get an additional teacher. So for first grade, we had to get 28 across all the classes even though the limit is 26 (which makes no sense to me).

I had heard there had to be 2 classes with 2 over the limit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary school told us every class had to be at least two over the cap for the grade to get an additional teacher. So for first grade, we had to get 28 across all the classes even though the limit is 26 (which makes no sense to me).

This is correct except one class has to be three over, so you’d need one class at 29 and two at 28.

[Anonymous]

What is the point of the limit if they have to be 2 over each class. Just make the limit, the f'ing limit. And why is one class 26 vs 28 and not 27 each

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our elementary school told us every class had to be at least two over the cap for the grade to get an additional teacher. So for first grade, we had to get 28 across all the classes even though the limit is 26 (which makes no sense to me).

This is correct except one class has to be three over, so you’d need one class at 29 and two at 28.

Even then, it’s an uphill battle to get the additional allocation and THEN actually find and hire a qualified teacher. Sorry, OP. Ask the teacher if they are open to parent volunteers coming in to help with small groups during the instructional blocks.

[Anonymous]

Nothing happens. You get a large classroom and have to hope the teacher can handle it.