Plainfield public schools, as documented at their own enrollment numbers (see previous post), tell the story of crowded early grades. Not sure what the class size is for middle and high school, so I'll stick with elementary class size. So, now it is documented, now you know about it, what is next?
Aside from speaking up and raising these concerns to the school board and state there must be a movement to encourage parents and community to voice their ideas on how to improve Plainfield public schools and while the district's website is announcing that this Tuesday there will be a Special Meeting at 7 PM on where superintendent Belin-Pyles will give a presentation on District Reconfiguration it would help to hear what other ideas are out there on regards to class size overcrowding at the lower grades.
What would you do to solve the lower grades' overcrowding? Please share.
3 comments:
Re-zoning the schools so population is more equally distributed, sending sixth grade back to middle school leaving less students at each elementary, and hiring a few more teachers with budgeted money instead of spending on consultants. Lower class sizes, in this educators view, is one critical way to increase student teacher contact time which is proven to increase test scores and student engagement.
Thanks! But just one more question:
What happens when children from one failing school are given the choice to attend a "Choice School" here within the district? How has that worked in the past and how could it work in the future? Any help understanding this will be appreciated. Thanks!
Turn one of the middle schools into a K-8 magnet school. This would draw students from the overcrowded elementary schools. Also, by making it a magnet school (like PAAAS is), movement to that school would be voluntary and competitive. No need to engage in a potentially controversial school redistricting battle. Here is my suggestion:
-Turn Hubbard into a K-8 Magnet School.
-Move PAAAS to Maxson School.
-Either expand Jefferson into the rest of the National Starch Building or Open another K-5 School in the space left over from the moving of PAAAS to Maxon.
-Keep Cedarbrook as a K-8 Center. (relieving overcrowding at Cedarbrook could be accomplished by drawing some of those students into the K-8 Magnet School at Hubbard or Maxson).
(Note: You could also swap the proposal by moving PAAAS to Hubbard and making Maxson the K-8 Magnet School...would work either way.)
This proposal would relieve overcrowding at elementary schools while still providing positive choices to students in Plainfield.
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