Reply to Ludlow-Taylor principal made permanent!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I would add, however, that I definitely wouldn't count on a waitlist spot opening up unless maybe there's some lottery-based shuffling in ECE. 1st through 5th could all stand to have class sizes shrink, so even kids dropping out would not lead to additional waiting list spots. [/quote]

Thanks, that's helpful.

Regarding class sizes, I think you need to check your expectations. We are at a Title 1 and we've had our kids in class sizes over 22 the last 3 years. Especially with the recent budget cuts, your expectations that you are going to be able to shrink class sizes at all, or resist pressure to add lottery spots, comes off as entitled to me. Especially on the Hill where elementary schools are very much a study of haves and have nots.[/quote]

The WTU contract has 22 as the target size and 25 as the cap. Teachers are entitled to certain extra pay, etc for going over the cap. It is not entitled to say that additional children should not be added to classes that are already over target size. Instead, that is exactly DCPS’ written policy. It is one thing when you are trying to guess at class sizes before the fact. It is another when your classes already have 23-25 kids; if one leaves, you should not be replacing them under the WTU contract terms.[/quote]

No one suggested adding kids over the cap or replacing kids who leave if the class is already over the cap. Rather, the complaint about DCPS pushing the school to add more lottery seats because this pushes class sizes over 22 (when even Title 1 schools are exceeding 22 in some classes and the entire district is facing budget shortfalls) is entitled.

There was a post up thread alleging L-T's administration had let the 1st grade class get over-enrolled by 20 kids. The reality is there is one 1st grade class with 26 kids and the others are at 25. Sounds like 3rd grade is full but not over-enrolled. The post also alleged that the school failed to process enrollments and u enrollments over the summer, but wait-lists in other grades moves steadily over the summer so this cannot be the case.

These complaints do come off as ticky-tacky and entitled when you are at other schools that are dealing with similar class size issues, losing paras and teachers, AND dealing with larger at-risk percentages and the issues that accompany that. I wouldn't be psyched if my kid was in that 26-kid class. But with a good teacher and some parental support, it's fine.[/quote]

You were responding to a post that said there was unlikely to be movement because class sizes could stand to shrink (because they are over 22). I read your reply to that post as calling that poster entitled, which I think is unfair. If classes are over 22, new kids shouldn't be added to make them bigger on purpose. If I misread your post, apologies. I agree that class sizes over 22 are not a crisis and are very likely to become the new norm; that said, what keeps happening at L-T is admin mismanaging enrollment in various ways (last year they had to open a 3rd 5th grade classroom the week before school started because they over-pulled from the waitlist accidentally). The principal emailed first grade families the day before school started saying that she intended to hire an extra first grade teacher so everything is a bit up in the air right now. [/quote]

Managing enrollment is very difficult and parents can get very entitled about it. No, the principal cannot hire an extra teacher because you want your child to be in a class of 17 instead of 25.[/quote]

No, I mean the principal emailed the entire first grade and said she is going to repurpose available funds to hire another first grade teacher. It wasn't something "entitled" parents asked for. In fact, most parents found out about the over-enrolled class sizes from the same message in which she said she'd be hiring another teacher.[/quote]

Ok so the issue is …? [/quote]

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