Comments on: New school on Genesee Hill: See design concepts on Tuesday

By: E

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 04:29:48 +0000

JenS you are wrong. Our son had 29 (!!) kids in his kindergarten class last year. They do have a “tipping point” and that does not add another class but the teacher makes more money. To be honest, I think they’d rather have a smaller, more manageable classroom than a little bit more money. Even worse, our school nearly lost a teacher well into the school year because the final student count was about 15 kids too low to justify the teacher. I can’t believe they were seriously going to take away the teacher! What would they have done with the students? Just put them in all of the other already over crowded classes?? So instead our school got rid of the librarian and took PTA money to pay for and keep the teacher. Ridiculous. SPSD is a joke.

By: JenS

JenS — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 00:34:51 +0000

I’m not 100% sure how this works but I *believe* the district has in place maximum class size guidelines (I think it may be 26 for Kinder and closer to 29-30 for upper elementary school grades, no idea about middle/high school) and once the class sizes get beyond that tipping point, they add another class or sometimes do grade level splits (i.e. a K/1st class or a 4th/5th class). I don’t think it is up to the individual school to hire or not hire; I think they have to get the go-ahead from the district once the numbers shake out each year …

By: Wess Cider

Wess Cider — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 17:45:28 +0000

Does anyone know if Schmitz Park Elementary plans to also hire more teachers when they move or is the 26-30 kids per classroom (one teacher) going to remain the norm?