Anonymous wrote:I don't get how a principal lets this happen. She should have had a good feel for the numbers just based on the K class last year. If there are 5 first grade classes of 30, then she should have been planning on 6 classes of 25.

There is typically a big jump from K to 1st at the school so it's hard to know the size of a 1st grade class there. A lot of kids do private kindergarten. Also, this has been a continual problem at Wolftrap with class size since the past two teacher ratio cuts which took place over the past 5-6 years. It used to be close to 30 in every classroom till about 2 years ago when they started adding back in teachers.

Class of 30 in MoCo, grade 1

in the 1960's and 70's

Anonymous wrote:I don't get how a principal lets this happen. She should have had a good feel for the numbers just based on the K class last year. If there are 5 first grade classes of 30, then she should have been planning on 6 classes of 25.

Wolftrap principal always claims the numbers increased suddenly in august and she can't hire anyone. suuuuurrrreeee..

Anonymous wrote:I don't get how a principal lets this happen. She should have had a good feel for the numbers just based on the K class last year. If there are 5 first grade classes of 30, then she should have been planning on 6 classes of 25.

A lot of this depends on the school's enrollment. The regs may apply to each grade level, but principals are still allotted teachers based on the total enrollment. I'm guessing there is a grade that has smaller classes than the reg--but would go way over if they cut a slot. Might be wrong, but that is how it usually works.

Or, is it a space issue? No where to put the class or one of the specialists insists on his/her own classroom and doesn't want to "travel" out of a cart.

But, this can be a last minute jump in enrollment, too.

Is there an AAP program in the school? That can also affect divvying up of teachers. Makes it harder for the principal to balance each grade.

Anonymous wrote:How many were in the Kindergarten classes last year? Did a ton of kids suddenly appear out of nowhere?

Only about 70 per DOE statistics.

Anonymous wrote:Please don't complain if you didn't vote for the meals tax.

+100.

How many were in the Kindergarten classes last year? Did a ton of kids suddenly appear out of nowhere?

I don't get how a principal lets this happen. She should have had a good feel for the numbers just based on the K class last year. If there are 5 first grade classes of 30, then she should have been planning on 6 classes of 25.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
An assistant is nowhere near the same as a teacher.

Umm, okay, thanks Captain Obvious.
Now head over to the thread about how there are no decent teachers to be hired. There's a real teacher shortage. We had 2 5th grade classes of 32 at our school last year by mid-September. Our principal was given another teacher to make 3 classrooms. But there were no good candidates. And which parent would want their kid in the new classroom with the so-so teacher? Please raise your hand.
So she hired an assistant for each class. It wasn't perfect, but we made it work.

That's similar to what she said in her email. They would have an extremely difficult time trying to hire a new teacher and then need to find a place for an extra classroom. I believe she is trying by hiring the assistants. I don't know what else the principal could do for this school year if they do not have space and do not have qualified applicants.

Anonymous wrote:
An assistant is nowhere near the same as a teacher.

Umm, okay, thanks Captain Obvious.
Now head over to the thread about how there are no decent teachers to be hired. There's a real teacher shortage. We had 2 5th grade classes of 32 at our school last year by mid-September. Our principal was given another teacher to make 3 classrooms. But there were no good candidates. And which parent would want their kid in the new classroom with the so-so teacher? Please raise your hand.
So she hired an assistant for each class. It wasn't perfect, but we made it work.

Anonymous wrote:School Board election Tuesday.

Yep.

An assistant is nowhere near the same as a teacher.

Please don't complain if you didn't vote for the meals tax.

Anonymous wrote:30 first graders per class--did you ask the principal if they were trying to hire another teacher?

We were emailed that the classes would be large and that they were going to put an assistant in each class.

si se puede

thank you for your tax dollars and smaller class sizes

gracias amigo