In-person school plans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaches at an Urban school district in PA not far From NY. His particular school has high poverty - lots of ESL though the school district overall is middle income. The whole area got hit hard With COVID in the spring coming from NY and covid rates worse then here - still. But they have been hybrid all fall until planned break in December. As planned, they Restarted hybrid this week. All the teachers will be vaccinated Jan 25 week.

I just don’t understand why MD is so different.

And, how many families actually signed up for hybrid? The issue is we don't have enough teachers to do both beyond the safety issues. We have 35 kids per MS class on a good day. We don't have enough classrooms for each teacher to have their own classroom. Kids are mixed up in different classes so they change classrooms multiple times a day plus lunch. Some classrooms don't have windows (not sure how that is safe from a fire standpoint but its still allowed). We have an old boiler system, no HVAC.

In which middle school do you have 35 kids per middle school class?

The one my child attends.

Many of my 7th grader’s classes are really large (over 30) and an email from our principal said that over 60% requested hybrid. In addition, a lot of the school is bused. The logistics will make it hard with all of the roles in place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaches at an Urban school district in PA not far From NY. His particular school has high poverty - lots of ESL though the school district overall is middle income. The whole area got hit hard With COVID in the spring coming from NY and covid rates worse then here - still. But they have been hybrid all fall until planned break in December. As planned, they Restarted hybrid this week. All the teachers will be vaccinated Jan 25 week.

I just don’t understand why MD is so different.

And, how many families actually signed up for hybrid? The issue is we don't have enough teachers to do both beyond the safety issues. We have 35 kids per MS class on a good day. We don't have enough classrooms for each teacher to have their own classroom. Kids are mixed up in different classes so they change classrooms multiple times a day plus lunch. Some classrooms don't have windows (not sure how that is safe from a fire standpoint but its still allowed). We have an old boiler system, no HVAC.

In which middle school do you have 35 kids per middle school class?

The one my child attends.

I'm choosing middle schools at random here. Pyle, average class size for English, 17.1, for other, 19.8. Frost, 21.0 22.5. Ridgeview, 17.1 14.9. Baker, 16.7 16.6. Montgomery Village, 17.3 15.5. Rosa Parks, 19.2 19.8. Loiederman, 17.9 17.1. OK, I'm bored now, but it does lead to questions, doesn't it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaches at an Urban school district in PA not far From NY. His particular school has high poverty - lots of ESL though the school district overall is middle income. The whole area got hit hard With COVID in the spring coming from NY and covid rates worse then here - still. But they have been hybrid all fall until planned break in December. As planned, they Restarted hybrid this week. All the teachers will be vaccinated Jan 25 week.

I just don’t understand why MD is so different.

And, how many families actually signed up for hybrid? The issue is we don't have enough teachers to do both beyond the safety issues. We have 35 kids per MS class on a good day. We don't have enough classrooms for each teacher to have their own classroom. Kids are mixed up in different classes so they change classrooms multiple times a day plus lunch. Some classrooms don't have windows (not sure how that is safe from a fire standpoint but its still allowed). We have an old boiler system, no HVAC.

In which middle school do you have 35 kids per middle school class?

The one my child attends.

I'm choosing middle schools at random here. Pyle, average class size for English, 17.1, for other, 19.8. Frost, 21.0 22.5. Ridgeview, 17.1 14.9. Baker, 16.7 16.6. Montgomery Village, 17.3 15.5. Rosa Parks, 19.2 19.8. Loiederman, 17.9 17.1. OK, I'm bored now, but it does lead to questions, doesn't it?

I don’t know where PP’s child attends, but my child is at Hoover with over 30. However, I’m sure that the average wouldn’t show that as it combines with the Bridge classes which are around 6 kids! The classes are huge!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaches at an Urban school district in PA not far From NY. His particular school has high poverty - lots of ESL though the school district overall is middle income. The whole area got hit hard With COVID in the spring coming from NY and covid rates worse then here - still. But they have been hybrid all fall until planned break in December. As planned, they Restarted hybrid this week. All the teachers will be vaccinated Jan 25 week.

I just don’t understand why MD is so different.

And, how many families actually signed up for hybrid? The issue is we don't have enough teachers to do both beyond the safety issues. We have 35 kids per MS class on a good day. We don't have enough classrooms for each teacher to have their own classroom. Kids are mixed up in different classes so they change classrooms multiple times a day plus lunch. Some classrooms don't have windows (not sure how that is safe from a fire standpoint but its still allowed). We have an old boiler system, no HVAC.

In which middle school do you have 35 kids per middle school class?

The one my child attends.

I'm choosing middle schools at random here. Pyle, average class size for English, 17.1, for other, 19.8. Frost, 21.0 22.5. Ridgeview, 17.1 14.9. Baker, 16.7 16.6. Montgomery Village, 17.3 15.5. Rosa Parks, 19.2 19.8. Loiederman, 17.9 17.1. OK, I'm bored now, but it does lead to questions, doesn't it?

I don’t know where PP’s child attends, but my child is at Hoover with over 30. However, I’m sure that the average wouldn’t show that as it combines with the Bridge classes which are around 6 kids! The classes are huge!

Hoover MS, 21.8 17.4. 1,045 students total, about 350 students per grade. How many of those students are Bridge students? How many Bridge classes are there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaches at an Urban school district in PA not far From NY. His particular school has high poverty - lots of ESL though the school district overall is middle income. The whole area got hit hard With COVID in the spring coming from NY and covid rates worse then here - still. But they have been hybrid all fall until planned break in December. As planned, they Restarted hybrid this week. All the teachers will be vaccinated Jan 25 week.

I just don’t understand why MD is so different.

And, how many families actually signed up for hybrid? The issue is we don't have enough teachers to do both beyond the safety issues. We have 35 kids per MS class on a good day. We don't have enough classrooms for each teacher to have their own classroom. Kids are mixed up in different classes so they change classrooms multiple times a day plus lunch. Some classrooms don't have windows (not sure how that is safe from a fire standpoint but its still allowed). We have an old boiler system, no HVAC.

In which middle school do you have 35 kids per middle school class?

The one my child attends.

I'm choosing middle schools at random here. Pyle, average class size for English, 17.1, for other, 19.8. Frost, 21.0 22.5. Ridgeview, 17.1 14.9. Baker, 16.7 16.6. Montgomery Village, 17.3 15.5. Rosa Parks, 19.2 19.8. Loiederman, 17.9 17.1. OK, I'm bored now, but it does lead to questions, doesn't it?

I don’t know where PP’s child attends, but my child is at Hoover with over 30. However, I’m sure that the average wouldn’t show that as it combines with the Bridge classes which are around 6 kids! The classes are huge!

Hoover MS, 21.8 17.4. 1,045 students total, about 350 students per grade. How many of those students are Bridge students? How many Bridge classes are there?

Hoover parent here. I have no idea how many Bridge classes there are! I was just pointing out why the numbers are not accurate. I would love of my son’s class had 21 students s in it...but it doesn’t. And my daughter’s classes were always large as well (she is in high school now).

[Anonymous]

The student/teacher ratio numbers in the "At a Glance" documents do not accurately reflect class sizes. I am not sure of the formula MCPS uses to arrive at the seemingly low numbers, but I teach in a middle school and my smallest class has 29 students and my largest class has 34.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaches at an Urban school district in PA not far From NY. His particular school has high poverty - lots of ESL though the school district overall is middle income. The whole area got hit hard With COVID in the spring coming from NY and covid rates worse then here - still. But they have been hybrid all fall until planned break in December. As planned, they Restarted hybrid this week. All the teachers will be vaccinated Jan 25 week.

I just don’t understand why MD is so different.

And, how many families actually signed up for hybrid? The issue is we don't have enough teachers to do both beyond the safety issues. We have 35 kids per MS class on a good day. We don't have enough classrooms for each teacher to have their own classroom. Kids are mixed up in different classes so they change classrooms multiple times a day plus lunch. Some classrooms don't have windows (not sure how that is safe from a fire standpoint but its still allowed). We have an old boiler system, no HVAC.

In which middle school do you have 35 kids per middle school class?

The one my child attends.

I'm choosing middle schools at random here. Pyle, average class size for English, 17.1, for other, 19.8. Frost, 21.0 22.5. Ridgeview, 17.1 14.9. Baker, 16.7 16.6. Montgomery Village, 17.3 15.5. Rosa Parks, 19.2 19.8. Loiederman, 17.9 17.1. OK, I'm bored now, but it does lead to questions, doesn't it?

If you pulled those stats from the School at a Glance I would encourage you to look at it with a grain of salt. The statistic is generated by taking the total number of students and dividing it by the total number of staff, regardless of whether or not the staff members are certified teachers. So it includes paraeducators and special ed. paras. It also assumes that all teachers are teaching classes that are the same size, which is not true. Special education teachers will teach smaller class sizes. Speech language pathologists provide pull-out support but their presence does not affect the overall class size. Same thing for ESOL teachers and specialists in ES.

A K - 2 school has 600 students and could easily have 40 staff members with teaching certification, but they don't have 15 students per class. Instead they probably have been 20 - 25 per teacher and the rest of the staff are a combination of special educators, ESOL teachers and specialists (PE, music, art etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm choosing middle schools at random here. Pyle, average class size for English, 17.1, for other, 19.8. Frost, 21.0 22.5. Ridgeview, 17.1 14.9. Baker, 16.7 16.6. Montgomery Village, 17.3 15.5. Rosa Parks, 19.2 19.8. Loiederman, 17.9 17.1. OK, I'm bored now, but it does lead to questions, doesn't it?

Do those numbers include self-contained special ed classes? At Hallie Wells, mainstream english classes are 28 or 29 kids, but with several of the small, self-contained classes of 6 to 10, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you pulled those stats from the School at a Glance I would encourage you to look at it with a grain of salt. The statistic is generated by taking the total number of students and dividing it by the total number of staff, regardless of whether or not the staff members are certified teachers. So it includes paraeducators and special ed. paras. It also assumes that all teachers are teaching classes that are the same size, which is not true. Special education teachers will teach smaller class sizes. Speech language pathologists provide pull-out support but their presence does not affect the overall class size. Same thing for ESOL teachers and specialists in ES.

A K - 2 school has 600 students and could easily have 40 staff members with teaching certification, but they don't have 15 students per class. Instead they probably have been 20 - 25 per teacher and the rest of the staff are a combination of special educators, ESOL teachers and specialists (PE, music, art etc.)

No, that is incorrect. This is how the average class size is calculated for middle school and high school: "The regular student enrollment divided by the number of classes, excluding special education, reported for two areas: English (required courses) and all other academic subjects (other English, mathematics, world languages, science, and social studies)."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/glance/definitions.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm choosing middle schools at random here. Pyle, average class size for English, 17.1, for other, 19.8. Frost, 21.0 22.5. Ridgeview, 17.1 14.9. Baker, 16.7 16.6. Montgomery Village, 17.3 15.5. Rosa Parks, 19.2 19.8. Loiederman, 17.9 17.1. OK, I'm bored now, but it does lead to questions, doesn't it?

Do those numbers include self-contained special ed classes? At Hallie Wells, mainstream english classes are 28 or 29 kids, but with several of the small, self-contained classes of 6 to 10, too.

No, those numbers do NOT include self-contained special ed classes or other special education classes.

"The regular student enrollment divided by the number of classes, excluding special education, reported for two areas: English (required courses) and all other academic subjects (other English, mathematics, world languages, science, and social studies)."

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/sharedaccountability/glance/definitions.aspx

[Anonymous]

Hans Reimer’s email:

“ Evidently early stage groups are not showing up at the rate expected; whether because outreach hasn’t been strong enough, people just need time to schedule, or they are hesitant. But the outcome is clear and untenable.

That is why I am urging County officials to open up Group 1B and begin making vaccination doses available to residents over age 75.”

We won’t be going back a long while if even health care professionals are hesitant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaches at an Urban school district in PA not far From NY. His particular school has high poverty - lots of ESL though the school district overall is middle income. The whole area got hit hard With COVID in the spring coming from NY and covid rates worse then here - still. But they have been hybrid all fall until planned break in December. As planned, they Restarted hybrid this week. All the teachers will be vaccinated Jan 25 week.

I just don’t understand why MD is so different.

And, how many families actually signed up for hybrid? The issue is we don't have enough teachers to do both beyond the safety issues. We have 35 kids per MS class on a good day. We don't have enough classrooms for each teacher to have their own classroom. Kids are mixed up in different classes so they change classrooms multiple times a day plus lunch. Some classrooms don't have windows (not sure how that is safe from a fire standpoint but its still allowed). We have an old boiler system, no HVAC.

If you check the building plans, they are probably listed as supply closets and not classrooms or offices. This is the case at my school. If a storage space fit at least 8 desks, it was turned into a classroom. A hallway is being used as a classroom. There was some discussion about turning the shower rooms into classrooms since students do not shower after PE. The opposition has been that it has to be entered through the locker rooms which are single sex. If we ever had a single sex self-contained class, that’s where it would be. Last year, we had a special ed support class with just one girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hans Reimer’s email:

“ Evidently early stage groups are not showing up at the rate expected; whether because outreach hasn’t been strong enough, people just need time to schedule, or they are hesitant. But the outcome is clear and untenable.

That is why I am urging County officials to open up Group 1B and begin making vaccination doses available to residents over age 75.”

We won’t be going back a long while if even health care professionals are hesitant.

R I E M E R

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hans Reimer’s email:

“ Evidently early stage groups are not showing up at the rate expected; whether because outreach hasn’t been strong enough, people just need time to schedule, or they are hesitant. But the outcome is clear and untenable.

That is why I am urging County officials to open up Group 1B and begin making vaccination doses available to residents over age 75.”

We won’t be going back a long while if even health care professionals are hesitant.

There's all the logistical issues of vaccine distribution too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother teaches at an Urban school district in PA not far From NY. His particular school has high poverty - lots of ESL though the school district overall is middle income. The whole area got hit hard With COVID in the spring coming from NY and covid rates worse then here - still. But they have been hybrid all fall until planned break in December. As planned, they Restarted hybrid this week. All the teachers will be vaccinated Jan 25 week.

I just don’t understand why MD is so different.

And, how many families actually signed up for hybrid? The issue is we don't have enough teachers to do both beyond the safety issues. We have 35 kids per MS class on a good day. We don't have enough classrooms for each teacher to have their own classroom. Kids are mixed up in different classes so they change classrooms multiple times a day plus lunch. Some classrooms don't have windows (not sure how that is safe from a fire standpoint but its still allowed). We have an old boiler system, no HVAC.

In which middle school do you have 35 kids per middle school class?

The one my child attends.

I'm choosing middle schools at random here. Pyle, average class size for English, 17.1, for other, 19.8. Frost, 21.0 22.5. Ridgeview, 17.1 14.9. Baker, 16.7 16.6. Montgomery Village, 17.3 15.5. Rosa Parks, 19.2 19.8. Loiederman, 17.9 17.1. OK, I'm bored now, but it does lead to questions, doesn't it?

My child’s English class has at least 30 kids. It is not 18. They have a huge range of needs so maybe esol but not regular.