How is 1st grade at Forestville? I heard class sizes are atrocious.

[Anonymous]

It is not completely luck of the draw. Title 1 get small classes. Our school--Wolftrap--has 3 first grades of 30, 30, and 31. If all of the kids were well behaved, it might be just ok. But so many have behavioral issues (either legitimate issues requiring additional resources and not limited to behavior, or just naughty undisciplined kids). The children who require assistance don't really frustrate me. The naughty kids are just out of control and the school doesn't do anything. These are not little kids anymore and should be able to line up and sit still but they are out of control and rude and disrepectful. Often, the "punishment" is sitting in another room. Wah? And when a naughty kid does something, they drag both the bully and the victim to the principal to talk about it. And that is kind of it. Bully isn't phased and it kind of traumatizes the victim even more so to me it is a total fail. Such a crushing disappointment of a school. So with big classes, I think it is hard but big classes with naughty kids is just horrible. Learning is impacted, recess is less than 20 minutes because the kids cannot line up, they are rude and by older grades it turns to bullying. If Forrestville is like Wolftrap, run away to private. At Wolftrap, classes get smaller in second grade because they have 4 teachers but the horribly behaved kids won't go away so it will still be hard to have a productive classroom.

[Anonymous]

At high income schools its the luck of the draw whether you get large or medium classes. At 28 kids per teacher on average, it's very likely that half your time at the school will be in classrooms over 28

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is not completely luck of the draw. Title 1 get small classes. Our school--Wolftrap--has 3 first grades of 30, 30, and 31. If all of the kids were well behaved, it might be just ok. But so many have behavioral issues (either legitimate issues requiring additional resources and not limited to behavior, or just naughty undisciplined kids). The children who require assistance don't really frustrate me. The naughty kids are just out of control and the school doesn't do anything. These are not little kids anymore and should be able to line up and sit still but they are out of control and rude and disrepectful. Often, the "punishment" is sitting in another room. Wah? And when a naughty kid does something, they drag both the bully and the victim to the principal to talk about it. And that is kind of it. Bully isn't phased and it kind of traumatizes the victim even more so to me it is a total fail. Such a crushing disappointment of a school. So with big classes, I think it is hard but big classes with naughty kids is just horrible. Learning is impacted, recess is less than 20 minutes because the kids cannot line up, they are rude and by older grades it turns to bullying. If Forrestville is like Wolftrap, run away to private. At Wolftrap, classes get smaller in second grade because they have 4 teachers but the horribly behaved kids won't go away so it will still be hard to have a productive classroom.

Omg so insightful, thank you! And so upsetting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not completely luck of the draw. Title 1 get small classes. Our school--Wolftrap--has 3 first grades of 30, 30, and 31. If all of the kids were well behaved, it might be just ok. But so many have behavioral issues (either legitimate issues requiring additional resources and not limited to behavior, or just naughty undisciplined kids). The children who require assistance don't really frustrate me. The naughty kids are just out of control and the school doesn't do anything. These are not little kids anymore and should be able to line up and sit still but they are out of control and rude and disrepectful. Often, the "punishment" is sitting in another room. Wah? And when a naughty kid does something, they drag both the bully and the victim to the principal to talk about it. And that is kind of it. Bully isn't phased and it kind of traumatizes the victim even more so to me it is a total fail. Such a crushing disappointment of a school. So with big classes, I think it is hard but big classes with naughty kids is just horrible. Learning is impacted, recess is less than 20 minutes because the kids cannot line up, they are rude and by older grades it turns to bullying. If Forrestville is like Wolftrap, run away to private. At Wolftrap, classes get smaller in second grade because they have 4 teachers but the horribly behaved kids won't go away so it will still be hard to have a productive classroom.

Omg so insightful, thank you! And so upsetting.

OMG, PP, please tell me you are being sarcastic.

Class size is absolutely a function of the staffing formula, the school total enrollment (luck of the draw), and the lead time with which new families register for school (something that has been a chronic problem at Wolftrap). Low FARMS - high class sizes. Would the Wolftrap poster rather go to Bailey's for low class sizes? Didn't think so.

[Anonymous]

Our kids went to Wolftrap years ago and we loved the school, even though class sizes were big then, too. Such a fun school and nice community. But the principals didn’t coddle either the parents or the kids. Perhaps that has changed.

[Anonymous]

They should give the better areas more teachers

[Anonymous]

Wolftrap and Forestville are over the state limit and local limit of 30 kids in a class. FCPS should make sure class sizes adhere to state laws and their own regulations.

[Anonymous]

Look in the Colvin Run district (parts of Great Falls feeds into Colvin Run). Class sizes have consistently been low for my kids (under 24 students); although I know some of the classes are higher, none go beyond 30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look in the Colvin Run district (parts of Great Falls feeds into Colvin Run). Class sizes have consistently been low for my kids (under 24 students); although I know some of the classes are higher, none go beyond 30.

They used to, however Colvin Run is a larger school, so maybe easier for the principal to distribute teachers more evenly.