Comments on: Budget cuts pressure principals;class sizes rise

By: Concerned citizen

Concerned citizen — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:36:44 +0000

Students at the JHS at M.S. 219 in the Bronx are being short changed because it is a community school and the classes have 34 plus children. This is sad when it has been proven that smaller classes allow greater student growth.

By: another frustrated parent

another frustrated parent — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:29:41 +0000

Unfortunately, my child’s District 2 elementary school had to grapple with class sizes of over 30 (as young as the 2nd grade) for years. This wasn’t the principal’s fault. It was a zoned elementary school. She had to take whoever lived in the zone and when she ran out of classrooms, she had to pack in more kids per class. Also, I don’t mind that schools serving many at-risk children receive priority funding to reduce class sizes, but when I read in the NYT article about a school that had to raise class sizes from 21 to 29, I thought “this is the best example they can get of budget cuts? Really?” First grade (2003-04 school year) was the last time my child was in a class of less than 30 and she’s in middle school now, where class enrollment averages about 35-36 in the 6th and 7th grades. I’m sure there are similar examples across the city of this kind of persistant overcrowding that the DOE tolerated even when funding was plentiful.

By: a parent

a parent — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:49:22 +0000

At our highly regarded District 2 elementary school, the principal is talking about raising class sizes to 29 in 3rd & 4th grades from what has always been a strict maximum of 28 in past years.

By: parent

parent — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:56:37 +0000

My son had 32 children in his class in 2nd grade, 32 children in his class in 3rd and about 33 this year. I know his teacher complained last year, but nothing came of it. The principal just packs them in. If teacher’s do “grieve” what is supposed to happen? As regarding art, each class gets two to six classes (once a week) of a visiting art teacher. It is a complete waste of money and I wouldn’t mind if it was cut completely. All school plays have been cancelled for years, but that is due to extra test prep. No class trips in years either. I think the only area that hasn’t been cut in my son’s school is ELL and remedial classes, the result of Klein’s paying principals for improving grades of the bottom. Anything that would enrich the lives of a student who can already pass those state tests has been cut and is fair game for the principal.