Reply to Big proposed class size increases for Title 1 and focus schools next year

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Reply to "Big proposed class size increases for Title 1 and focus schools next year"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Haven't you noticed everything is going to the richer schools and this is going to have a terrible impact on the rest.  This is why reducing farms rates at some schools is a bad idea as its less funding.

Its often kids with special needs don't get the help they deserve.  THis isn't anything new.

And, with the reduction of students at the HS level, and the reduction of staff because of that, the divide is going to be greater.

The BOE is doing this to make their schools better.  Who knows where Taylor's kids go to school but he is really out of touch with what's going on outside the W schools.[/quote]

I don’t think that’s fair to say “everything is going to the richer schools.” The ES class size guidelines are 28/29 for non-Focus schools and since they’re just guidelines, it’s not uncommon there are ES classes with 32 kids in them.

I’m sure if MCPS could have increased class sizes for non-Focus schools they would have. But it’s hard to fit more than 30 desks in a classroom and still be able to walk. Ask me how I know.  [/quote]

No, they are literally proposing improving class sizes for richer schools while worsening them for poorer schools.  (So it's not a "if they could have increased class sizes for richer schools they would have" situation-- they certainly could have chosen to leave the richer schools as-is but instead are choosing to invest in bringing down class sizes there.)  It's all spelled out in black and white.  Schools with high FARMS rates will have higher class sizes than they do now, while schools with low FARMS rates will have lower class sizes than they do now.

I don't mean to be anti-rich schools.  I do think that the class sizes at the richer schools are too big, and I think class sizes should be decreased at all the elementary schools in the county, both rich, poor, and in-between.  But I also think it's just totally unacceptable to make those improvements for the richer schools on the back of the kids at the poorer schools.  (Like, it would be bad enough if they only invested in improving class sizes at richer schools and left the poorer schools alone.  But they are [b]actively making things significantly worse[/b] for the youngest, poorest kids in MCPS in order to improve class sizes at the richer schools.  That's just not okay.) [/quote]

But why are you pitting the focus vs. the non-focus school class sizes as if those are the two only options for budget cuts?  As someone whose ES kid has 31 kids in their classroom this year, I think it's overwhelming the teacher and it's not a good environment for my kid to learn.  I think that does need improvement.  I also recognize that Focus schools have much smaller classes on average, but that those are needed for good reason.

MCPS could reduce choose to reduce costs in a lot of other areas...I have older kids, and would happily cut the SSL requirement (service is great, but many of the hours are earned for activities) and the staffing required is supposedly 13 people in the central office plus part of an employee's time in each MS and HS.  Or the many "specialized HS programs" (aviation, ecology, social justice) of dubious quality that require so much money to develop and administer.

Getting ES class sizes right is important...other things, not so much.

[/quote]

I'm not the one pitting anyone against anyone... MCPS is.   I think class sizes should decrease for everyone.  If the proposal had been to decrease them equally for everyone, I would have happily supported it and not said a thing about equity or SES.  If the proposal had been to decrease class sizes only for the richer schools and leave the poorer schools as-is, I would have grumbled a bit but ultimately been fine with it.  But because the proposal is literally to make class sizes in richer schools better by simultaneously making class sizes in poorer schools worse-- in other words, that MCPS is literally actively choosing to pay for the class size reductions in the richer schools by cutting staffing and increasing class sizes in the poorer schools-- then, yeah, I'm furious, and I'm going to mention that I think it's really unfair and unwise. [/quote]

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