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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
Large Kindergarten Class
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Anonymous
| Is this class size the same across MCPS kindergartens? Or is this unusual? |
Anonymous
It just depends on the number of kids and classes. But, it is my understanding that MCPS has a rule of max. of 27 kids per kindergarten class. At the start of the year our school was right at 54 kindergarteners so they they had just 2 classrooms with 27 kids in each. Sometime this past week or two at least one new kid enrolled in K and the school has to add a third classroom. The principal is working on hiring a new teacher and I expect they'll get one sooner rather than later. So then there will be class sizes of around 18. From the antidotal stories I hear, it does seem that many schools in the county have K's near the 27 limit. |
Anonymous
| If your school has focus funding the k-2 classes will be smaller, from about 16-19. |
Anonymous
| Yup. 19 kindergarterners in DC's focus school. Having a great time. |
Anonymous
I hardly think that children in western MoCo affluent households are "have nots" by any definition of that term. |
Anonymous
And that's the justification the Council and Board have been using for years. Just b/c their parents are on the stable-to-affluent continuum, we don't need to worry about their quality of education - they'll be fine. |
Anonymous
How do you learn which schools have focus funding? And is this a one year thing b/c of the MOE debacle? Or will it be any better in years to come? |
Anonymous
Title 1 is a requirement. MOE funding, while it affects how the schools run in general, is not related to Title 1 funding. MOE helps/supplements. Now, low-performing schools (high FARMs - free and reduced meals) - obviously need as many resources as possible, like academic intervention, which is a position that must be requested. But if OSP doesn't have the allocation, then more duties will be placed on the teachers and aides (if aides exist, that is). |
Anonymous
They are "have nots" by the following definition: they have not got additional staff that private money could provide. The point is, prohibiting families who are willing and able to pay for additional staff from doing so does not help disadvantaged kids in any way! It might make you/the county feel good to keep families from choosing to provide this advantage to their children...but please don't pretend that it does anything to "level the playing field" for poor kids. Also, why are you so sure that less advantaged families wouldn't also be willing to contribute to a similar program in their schools? Who are you to say they shouldn't also have the chance to raise funds for this in their own schools? Don't prohibit anyone from trying to do what's best for their schools. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Wow, that is crazy! DD is still in pre-K, but that doesn't sound promising at all. |
Anonymous
eye roll -- why?? |
Anonymous
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I was told not to come to school in the first 2 weeks by the administration, but I went anyway and nobody stopped me. The cafeteria was a zoo with 150+ kindergartners and 2 lunch aids. They were pretty much yelling at the kids not to do this or that and were both 'on edge' by the end of those 30 minutes. The kids were either in a frightened type of a daze or totally hyper, having been sitting all morning. Afterwards, they had indoor recess, where they were not allowed to get up and get toys until "everyone was quiet." I think a lot of these over-the-top rules are in place, so that 1 person can manage such a large group of children.
I wish we were allowed to have a fundraiser to hire a teacher's aid for our class. I mean, if I donate computers or supplies to my school, I bet they will be happily accepted. Why can't parents hold a fundraiser to increase the quality of life for their children? Why do we have to either accept this situation as is or 'vote with our feet' by going to a private school? I went to public schools; I want my kids to go to public schools, but I did not have 28 kids in my kindergarten class and according to class pictures, there was a teacher's aid too... |
Anonymous
I think you're missing a lot of issues that would snowball from parents in more affluent areas funding teacher's aides (or anything else similar) for just their own schools. The classroom teacher's lives would be slightly easier having full time aides at those schools, and it's likely that the best teachers would leave less privileged schools and go work at the schools in neighborhoods where parents will pay for them to have full time help in their classrooms. Also, once you factor in health benefits, pension contributions, etc, all of which are factored in to even an aide's salary package, you're probably looking at close to $100k per aide. If there are 5 kindergartens in your school, that is half a million dollars. That is a lot of money, even in areas of privilege. I'm not 100% sure of this, but I do believe that this type of fundraising is against the law, so continuing to bring up that point is not going to get you anywhere. |
Anonymous
| I do not think a para-educator costs 100k a year. They make around $15/hour, so even with benefits that's a maximum of 25 to 35k a year (even less, given that they work for 6 hours a day and don't work in the summers). |