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SCHOOLS: Teachers' union complains about large class sizes
Jan 26, 2006
Charging that some 77 classes around the school system exceed the
limits called for in their contract, Ridgefield�s teachers are bringing
a formal grievance on class sizes before the Board of Education.
�What happens, if you have too many kids in the classroom, it now
becomes a management issue,� said Patrick Higgins, president of the
teachers� union local, the National Education Association-Ridgefield.
�And when you have classroom overcrowding, it puts a strain on the time
that the teacher can spend adequately with each student,� he said.
�...As you increase the size of the class you�re going to reduce the
one-on-one time, obviously � especially in the primary grades.�
The teachers don�t like big classes because it becomes harder to teach,
and they feel like they�re not doing as good a job even as they pour
more energy into the effort, according to Mr. Higgins, a veteran
Ridgefield High School social studies teacher.
�We�re trying to create independent learners and to teach them skills
that complement differentiated instruction,� Mr. Higgins said. �...I�m
not saying we�re not giving the kids enough time, but it�s a strain.�
The class size grievance was scheduled to be discussed at this week�s
board meeting, which was canceled and rescheduled for next Monday, Jan.
30. It was not clear at press time whether all parties to grievance
could make Monday�s meeting � if they can, the meeting will likely
start earlier than usual and the grievance will be taken up at 6:45. If
not, another time and date will be announced and Monday�s meeting will
start at 7:30 as usual � with the superintendent�s budget presentation
as the major agenda item.
Maximums, break points
School Personnel Director Karen Dewing was reluctant to address the
teachers� complaint in detail, saying she hadn�t heard their
presentation yet.
She did explain a bit about the clause that is the source of the dispute.
�The Board of Education has a contract with the teachers� union that has a desired class size stipulated for K-12,� she said.
In kindergarten and first grade, the �desired� class size is 20, and in
grades 3 through 12, it is 25. There are exceptions for things like
special education classes, or science labs, and many classes are
smaller just because that�s the way it works out.
�The board has break points of when we will create a new section,
before school starts, that are higher than that,� Ms. Dewing said. �So
each year in January the union comes to us to discuss the classes that
are over the desired breakpoint.�
In other words, classes are allowed to go beyond the �desired� size,
particularly after the school year has started. Even before school
starts in September, the board and administration can adjust the
balance between educational and budgetary concerns by using different
�break points� to decide when an additional teachers will be hired to
reduce the load on other teachers in crowded classrooms.
A few years back, with budgets very tight, the �break points� were
bumped up � with written agreement from the union. It was supposed to
be for one year, but the break points never came back down.
Currently, classes in kindergarten and first grade, where the �desired�
size is 20 students, break at 23 � so they can grow to 22 students and
a new section is created when one class gets its 23rd student. In
second grade classes break at the 27th student. And above that, in
grades 3 through 12, classes theoretically can grow to 27 and are
broken at 28.
Planning, reality
That�s what�s done as the administration is planning things before
school actually starts in the fall. Once the year is going educators
are reluctant to move kids to new classes � it is considered disruptive
to education as well as more expensive.
The reality, then, is that classes get even bigger, particularly in the
high schools where students are individually scheduled to accommodate
their different elective class requests.
At all levels, according to the union, there are classes that are too big.
�You have a teacher in a second or third grade classroom, we can go
anywhere from 27 to 28 students,� Mr. Higgins said. �Or in a freshman
ninth grade math or English class you�re at 30 or 31 in some cases.�
Because the problems of breaking classes and moving students around in
the middle of the year are pretty widely agreed upon, the remedy to a
class size grievance in mid-year is likely to be something else. Often
it may be some reduction of non-teaching burdens on teachers with
exceptionally large classes � no home room duty for an overburdened
teacher at the high school, for instance.
�Our practice has been that once the school year starts, we try not
break classes,� Ms. Dewing said. �Anytime you start the school year, we
try not to do that and look at other remedies, if possible.�
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