Reply to 1st grade classes are 30 kids and it's a mess

Forum Index » Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)

Reply to "1st grade classes are 30 kids and it's a mess"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]At my child's school, the first grade classes (6 and 7 year olds) are a mess! This is the grade that includes all the kids whose parents didn't want them in virtual kindergarten and weren't able to do private the virtual year, so on top of the huge class sizes, there's a broad range of ages in this class - from the kids who are still 5 with birthdays next week to those that turned 7 halfway through Kindergarten last year. Our principal refused to hire an extra teacher despite the fact that last year's class sizes were also huge (but kindergarteners had an IA to help). It's awful, it's out of control, and there is no support for the poor first grade teachers. Is there anything we can do to petition the principal to hire a new teacher for next year? 30 kids in a first grade class is TOO MANY.[/quote]

DS's first grade class had 32 kids in it 4 years ago. This is not a new thing. [/quote]

And your kid is fine now, right?

OP: what do you think will happen if your kid goes thru the year with a class this size?[/quote]

It's very difficult for the teacher to manage the class. I've heard of at least two instances where she's had to call for backup. She's doing the best she can, but her class was 20 kids last year. [/quote]

THIS is the issue.  The number of kids isn't, on its own, bad.  I had 30 in my elementary classes back in the 80s.  BUT these days, kids with significant issues are mainstreamed which is really hard when the classes are huge.  So 26 kids without issues plus 4 with issues and aides following them around and a classroom designed for 24 kids suddenly has 30 kids, and 5 adults.  It is too many people--literally our kids had to climb around each other to get their seats.  Now, toss in age appropriate antics and teachers who have no authority to punish (Can't send to principal, [b]cant put outside in hall,[/b] can't deny recess--literally no arrows in the discipline quiver) and the teachers are just overwhelmed.  And so NO learning happens.  My son practically had PTSD from his first grade at Wolftrap it was such a crap show.  And that Principal had authority to hire a teacher to have smaller classes and she "decided" not to. She did it year after year and she was recently promoted. That is FCPS.[/quote]

My third grader in FCPS says kids who talk too much when they're not supposed to be talking get sent out to the hallway. So the lack of discipline sounds like a school issue.

I haven't heard great things about Wolftrap. My nephew who went though AAP there seemed to do fine my in laws think my niece who is in gen ed there isn't learning much. Sounds like the principal was part of the problem.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics