Anonymous wrote:The class size guidance is increases by 1 this year. But I remembered it was 24 max so really it should not be more than 25.

"Guidance". But in reality, you can start with 24 students in a class and get another few that get distributed per class and the school will STILL not get an allocation for another teacher. Or for any more paras, for that matter.

The class size guidance is increases by 1 this year. But I remembered it was 24 max so really it should not be more than 25.

Anonymous wrote:Normal for MCPS now. Class sizes will continue to increase as population increases and as it gets harder to hire teachers.

And as the MoCo Council continues to promote "upzoning" and the "attainable housing" (not affordable which would mean actual housing for poorer people rather than big expensive condo buildings)

There is a teacher shortage, and that’s a huge issue. I’d be grateful your kid has an actual teacher. My child has never had a permanent teacher this year because the school can’t find one. Her class is small, but will now be staffed by a long term sub who never stepped foot in a classroom before. That is worse to me than 28 kids in a class. I’d much prefer my daughter be in your child’s situation.

Anonymous wrote:Normal for MCPS now. Class sizes will continue to increase as population increases and as it gets harder to hire teachers.

I hope not! Is there no hope of the county turning things around for public school?

Anonymous wrote:For a wealthy school it’s a bit high but not by much. We prefer small classes for our kids, so we chose a focus school. 16 kids in kinder and no more than 18 in first and second grades (and that’s after the class size expansion this year). It never made sense to me to pay an extra $100k to live in Bethesda to have huge classes.

Yep, that was our thinking and we found one that even had a local CES so kid had the best possible options for later ES too.

Anonymous wrote:Our ES has 16 kids per class and it still seems like a zoo. How are they managing 28?

They are not. This is why teachers are overwhelmed and our kids are not getting the education they need. Look up the stats for your ES. How are the proficiency rates? It's impossible to effectively teach these kids when class sizes continue to increase.

Our focus school ( Burtonsville ES) had 16 kids in K. I went in to volunteer right thru 2nd grade. Must be a school specific thing.

Our ES has 16 kids per class and it still seems like a zoo. How are they managing 28?

28 is too big for K! I can’t even imagine how the teacher will handle so many kids. Maybe they are getting some help from paraeducators. This will be difficult for my autistic kid in a gen Ed classroom. We have 20 kids in K. Not a title 1/focus school.

And no aide. It’s ridiculous. Way too many kids for a K classroom.

Anonymous wrote:Is this normal in MCPS? All of the K classes at our school started with 26 on the first day and have 27 or 28 now. I offered to volunteer at the school and was told no volunteers until second semester.

This happened to DC a few years ago. Started with 27 and then someone moved in a week or two later.

This is why our ES still does K orientation and tries to get everyone to sign up early. Then if the classes get that high they can get a new teacher. Very hard to do after the start of the school year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this normal in MCPS? All of the K classes at our school started with 26 on the first day and have 27 or 28 now. I offered to volunteer at the school and was told no volunteers until second semester.

They don't want parents seeing the far left lessons they're teaching.

It's about establishing routines and helping kids get acclimated to school. Not to mention getting through critical beginning of the year testing and implementation of supports.

Sure

Anonymous wrote:Is this normal in MCPS? All of the K classes at our school started with 26 on the first day and have 27 or 28 now. I offered to volunteer at the school and was told no volunteers until second semester.

Horrifying! Don't trust this situation for minute, OP