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][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Why everything has to be about FARMS schools? Children in other schools also need to be properly educated. My kid is in math class with 33 other students. Yes, I am all for decreasing the number of students at our school even if other schools will have to bump up a bit. I am not in a high FARMS rate school but it doesn't mean I can send my child to a private institution. [/quote]

Lower income students cost more to education..that's why the state gives MCPS funding based on the number of FARMS students. But MCPS is taking that money and using it to increase resources for wealthy students. You may be okay with that (you care exclusively about your kid and kids similar to your kid) but that doesn't make it okay.[/quote]

Yes,I care about my children first and foremost.
33 students in our school vs 18 in *poor* schools seem to much of a difference. That's almost doubled the classroom. [/quote]

1)  That's selfish.
2)  Why can't parents work together for better things for all our kids, rather than you wanting to make things worse for poorer kids?
3)  No elementary school class should have 33 kids-- even in 4th and 5th grade, they get funded for one teacher per 29 kids (although sometimes some of the classes will have 30 kids before they get extra funding, depending on how the numbers shake out.)  If your principal is making classes of 33, that's your principal's decision/fault.  Also, Title 1 and focus schools get one teacher per 27 kids in 4th and 5th grade so it's only a slight difference to the 29 in other schools.  
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DP, but not everyone sees it the same way as you. I think 33 kids is completely unacceptable, and going from 19 kids to 21 kids is still acceptable in my personal opinion. I think more resources should go to higher needs schools, but I don’t think ALL resources should go to higher needs schools to the point that the lower needs schools can’t fit kids in the physical classroom and teachers can’t educate effectively. Especially since “wealthy” schools still have plenty of kids with special needs, English language learners, behavior challenges, too. If you said to me that these small class sizes in the title one or focus schools were producing promising results or better outcomes, that would be one thing. But they haven’t. All data shows abysmal proficiency with no upward trend. This is like the innovative calendar schools that were costing millions and not producing any better results than traditional calendar schools. When you don’t get return on your investment and you see that other schools are starting to decline too, you need to correct your allocations. The public school system serves all children, not just the neediest. [/quote]

Exactly. Even the 15-20 sized classes aren’t going to fix the problem. Mostly likely 2-4 of these students are going to have a reading or math disability on top of ESOL needs. [b]Instead, the school would need an extra interventionist if 10 kids in every grade need intervention with a specific curriculum not used in the classroom. [/b]So it sounds like Thomas is recalibrating based on this knowledge. Small class sizes don’t solve every problem and he knows that.  And no 33 is not acceptable. [/quote]

But he is taking teachers away from low income schools, not adding teachers for interventions, so to suggest this is the basis for reducing funding for low income schools is nonsensical.[/quote]

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