29 kids in a K class
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Anonymous
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Just got off the phone with the Principal. The classes are actually 27 children not 29 and they do have support staff in the classroom the majority of the time. After speaking to her, I feel better about the situation....although it certainly isn't ideal.
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Anonymous
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MIL is a K teacher at a PG County school and she has 29 kids in her class. There were 30, but 1 switched after the first week.
Most of the kids do not speak english and she speaks no spanish. Most of the kids also have very little in the way of basic skills, like letter recognition. She has no aide in her class. Its really, really tough. |
Anonymous
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15:46 That is unacceptable! What can parents do to stop this problem? How can we establish regulations regarding ratios? I understand that these large sizes, while not optimal for any young children, may work in higher SES areas. However, with the large number of English as a second language and FARMS qualified students in our county, we need better ratios even more acutely. I vote for no more than 20 in a K class AND an assistant.
While I am at it, I have noticed on this forum, as compared to others, that PG parents simply do not demand enough. Or at least there is one poster who frequently comments to the effect the things just are a certain way and people should deal with it. No! We should ask questions and work to create solutions. Just because a program is in demand such as Montessori or French immersion doesn't mean that we can't converse online about the strengths and weaknesses of the specialty schools. Just because admissions is unlikely doesn't mean we shouldn't discuss it. I am heartened to see the thread about potential new immersion options. Also, in speaking with other parents at PG Pool and around my neighborhood I can see that we have a critical mass of active engaged parents. We just need to harness that energy. If it doesn't happen soon most of these parents will enroll in private school or move. I know that we will. I am typing on my phone, so hopefully this post isn't loaded with typos. Ok, rant over! |
Anonymous
OP here, I totally agree that we need to demand more from the public schools but at the same time if you have a reasonable and responsible Principal I think that the best way to go about it is to work with them to solve the problem. It seems like in our case they have put the vast majority of the ESOL K students in the same class where the teacher has some ESOL training and so that the ESOL specialist can focus on that classroom. She explained to me the reasoning behind the staffing choices and although not ideal, it made sense to me. For our school, the upper grades are under enrolled while the K and 1st have a higher enrollment. The end result is that the school is technically not at capacity so they can't get extra funding. I think that the most productive way to change the situation is to lobby the new school board and CEO. If he walks the walk then we should see an increase in the seats available for the Lottery School....and I think that some of that is already happening since the Montessori school we are in-bounds for just added another Primary class. |
Anonymous
| I wonder how much flexibility the neighborhood schools have in terms of staffing. We are in a lottery school and I know that they made the choice to do away with one of the administrative positions in order to fund other teaching positions that directly benefit the students. |
Anonymous
they have a lot of flexibility in terms of staffing classroom teachers. Kindergarten and first grade classes get extra $$ per child. The data here is from last year, but this gives you an idea of how much schools are working with and how it is calculated. http://www1.pgcps.org/sbb/byschool.aspx |
Anonymous
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29 kids is standard in K and 1st at our MoCo elementary in Bethesda.
There are also 70+ kids on each bus in our neighborhood. We're told the bus thing is going to shake itself out in the coming week or two. The class size thing, I doubt it. |
Anonymous
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OP here-
I just wanted to report that the Principal got another K teacher and now the classes are 20-21. It is too bad that they couldn't start the year that way but I'm happy that she was able to work the school funding for the additional teacher. |
Anonymous
Thanks for following up. We had a similar situation at my DDs elementary this year. PGCPS significantly underestimated enrollment and a lot of people ended up not enrolling for K until just before school started. We had about 100 kids assigned to three K classes. The school opened this year with four Ks with three teachers and a sub for the first few weeks until a new full-time K teacher could be brought in. A similar adjustment had to happen with the first grade this year where more kids than expected enrolled (and enrollments happened late) and what was slated for three classrooms had to be split into four. Our principal did a good job of balancing out the needs and getting in the needed staff (and finding room for the classes). There's a lot of talk in this thread about ratios and caps. With the change to student-based budgeting a few years back, the maximum student-to-teacher ratios were scrapped. Instead, the principal has room to decide how big or small the classes will be and can hired teachers accordingly. However, the principal also has to balance things out; smaller class sizes might mean there isn't enough money for a full-time librarian or for a guidance counselor. PGCPS will reject proposed budgets if things are too out of whack and some positions are locked/required, but there isn't a set cap on class sizes. |
Anonymous
Yay!! |
Anonymous
| DC's kindergarten class at Long Branch Elementary in Arlington County has close to that number as well. The problem as I understand it is a facilities issue in which the school cannot expand. The only way it can add more classes is by taking over the computer lab, which nobody wants. Long Branch is a highly rated school in Arlington. DC's class has a teacher and an assistant, which both get rave reviews. I did raise this issue with the teacher at the parent teach conferences and she agreed it was a problem and told me some of the things they do to try to deal with it, none of which I can remember at the moment. |