This isn't the principal's call. It is a DCPS call whether they will grant her another teacher. That's what she means by no man's land.

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to what we have been dealing with at Janney!

The answer is to get DCPS to max elementary school classes at 25 instead of 30.

Except then you have extra classes added and OOB students added to fill those classes and then Deal and Wilson are huge.

In this case you don't need a cap. Common sense prevails. Take 4-5 kids from each class and make a sixth. But don't create a must-use formula that principals will use to boost their school funding at the expense of crowding in the out years.

Anonymous wrote:This is nuts. There is definitely room for a 6th kindergarten section. They specifically included a 6th classroom instead of an open "common area" in the kindergarten hallway to accommodate additional in boundary students joining the school once the new building opens. 28 kindergarteners is simply too many. When I toured the school before enrolling our child, Dr. B said the classrooms were basically max 24, and most usually lingered closer to 21-23. I'm kinda pissed actually. The class size issue is one reason we didn't move to MoCo.

You should be angry. She made promises she didn't keep. But you should expect that to happen time and again during your tenure at Lafayette.

Anonymous wrote:It's disingenuous of the principal to say they are in an enrollment no man's land with Kindergarten. Take 5 children from each of the 5 classes and you get 6 classes of roughly 23 or 24 students which is a reasonable class size. Why is she acting like even 26 or 27 students per K class is reasonable and that therefore her hands are somehow tied!? Ridiculous. The 140 K families should send a unified demand that another class be added immediately. No more wait and see.

+1

It's disingenuous of the principal to say they are in an enrollment no man's land with Kindergarten. Take 5 children from each of the 5 classes and you get 6 classes of roughly 23 or 24 students which is a reasonable class size. Why is she acting like even 26 or 27 students per K class is reasonable and that therefore her hands are somehow tied!? Ridiculous. The 140 K families should send a unified demand that another class be added immediately. No more wait and see.

This is nuts. There is definitely room for a 6th kindergarten section. They specifically included a 6th classroom instead of an open "common area" in the kindergarten hallway to accommodate additional in boundary students joining the school once the new building opens. 28 kindergarteners is simply too many. When I toured the school before enrolling our child, Dr. B said the classrooms were basically max 24, and most usually lingered closer to 21-23. I'm kinda pissed actually. The class size issue is one reason we didn't move to MoCo.

Welcome to what we have been dealing with at Janney!

The answer is to get DCPS to max elementary school classes at 25 instead of 30.

Parents will be pulling kids OUT of a class of 28, not putting them in!

807 students??

Here's a thought: close Coolidge and bus the Lafayette kids to a larger facility.

This note just went out from the principal.

Dear KDG and 5th Grade Parents –

You may have noticed that the class sizes in Kindergarten and 5th grade look a little larger than normal. Here’s why:

Kindergarten
This spring and summer, we have had an abundance of new in-boundary KDG students. In the last week alone we have received 4 new in-boundary kindergarten students!

Classes currently have 28 students per class, with a teacher and an instructional aide. Unfortunately, our enrollment is sitting in a “no man’s land” of sorts – enough kids that we have larger classes, but not quite enough kids to trigger the addition of a 6th class. We are sitting right on the cusp. DCPS and I are both monitoring our enrollment daily. If we continue to see students enroll in KDG, we will start discussing the process of adding an additional teacher. If our enrollment stays steady, there is a good chance we will stay where we are.

The next two weeks are critical – it is very important that any potentially new in-boundary KDG students enroll ASAP so we can plan accordingly. Stay tuned for more updates as our two weeks unfold.

5th Grade
At the end of last year, I worked with the 5th grade team to be sure that the schedule provided for equal instructional minutes in all classes for all subjects. I also heard you loud and clear – more Science!

Therefore, we moved to four 5th grade homerooms (2 teams of 2), and one 5th grade science teacher. The students will be on a "team" for ELA/Math/Soc Stu and then rotate to Science with Ms. DiRenzo for 45 mins every day.

The reduction in homerooms has caused a slight increase in number of students per class (26). The class size is still below average class size in other elementary schools.

Other Clarifications -
This year we have welcomed over 50 new in-boundary families. We are currently enrolled at 807 students.
While we have also welcomed two new special education classrooms, this addition is not related to the larger class sizes. The classrooms are capped at 10 students (grades K-2) and 12 students (grades 3-5). They are an incredible add to our community for which I am thankful to share with our students.
In-boundary families continue to move into our neighborhood and enroll. It is a great problem to have! This speaks to your incredible sense of community and the overall success of our school. If your neighbor hasn't yet enrolled, please send them our way!
Please don't worry. We are still three weeks away from the first day of school. I'm also confident in our amazing teachers and instructional aides. I'll keep you in the loop as I know more information.

Have a great rest of the week,
Dr. B

If there are 28
Now, there will be 30 by the time school starts.

Anonymous wrote:What has the school said in the issue? Why would they not add another section as they have done in previous years?

Not enough space.

What has the school said in the issue? Why would they not add another section as they have done in previous years?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the space situation? They're also opening the 2 new self-contained special ed classrooms.

I wonder if it was a space issue or a budget issue.

They will get add'l $ for the spec ed classrooms and associated teachers and staff. That wouldn't affect the budget, but could possibly affect space.

I meant that they couldn't get a 6th teacher for K, despite class sizes being way bigger than Dr. B's stated goal (she says in her tour for prospective parents that she wants class sizes no larger than 24). And that they went to 4 classes for 5th grade, with the same number of kids as were in 4th grade last year, with 5 sections.

Last year, budget woes were blamed on poor enrollment forecasting by DCPS. What's going on this year?

Wow. Being promised a class size of 24 and then seeing a class list with at least 28, won't more enroll and up class sizes to 29/30?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What's the space situation? They're also opening the 2 new self-contained special ed classrooms.

I wonder if it was a space issue or a budget issue.

They will get add'l $ for the spec ed classrooms and associated teachers and staff. That wouldn't affect the budget, but could possibly affect space.

I meant that they couldn't get a 6th teacher for K, despite class sizes being way bigger than Dr. B's stated goal (she says in her tour for prospective parents that she wants class sizes no larger than 24). And that they went to 4 classes for 5th grade, with the same number of kids as were in 4th grade last year, with 5 sections.

Last year, budget woes were blamed on poor enrollment forecasting by DCPS. What's going on this year?