Back 
There'll be more than 43 unfilled positions next year.
Despite budget cuts that reduced teacher positions earlier this year, Richmond County school officials say only a handful of classes have grown to their maximum student level.
"Reasons for not having larger class size would be moving teachers within schools as needed," stated schools spokesman Louis Svehla in a Wednesday e-mail. He said only four schools have maximum class sizes in one grade level under the new guidelines that now allow a higher teacher-student ratio for elementary and middle schools.
Those grades reaching maximum levels, he said, are first grade at Barton Chapel Elementary, first grade at Diamond Lakes Elementary, second grade at Goshen Elementary and fourth grade at Gracewood Elementary.
Barton Chapel Principal Joretta Akpo-Sanni said her school lost three teaching positions. But she said they were able to adjust by shuffling some classes that were under enrolled. She said the dedication of staff members and an increase in mentors and parental involvement have filled in the gap.
At C.T. Walker Traditional Magnet School, which had all of its grade levels from kindergarten through eighth increase their teacher-student ratio by two students per class this year, Principal Dr. Renee Kelly said no problems have arisen.
"The teachers haven't been complaining about it," she said, later adding, "... I think educators as a whole, it's not in our nature to not want to help children."
Allowances for greater class sizes in some elementary and middle schools have come as 43 unfilled teaching positions were eliminated this year in Richmond County by the tightened budget. In the spring, Georgia Schools Superintendent Kathy Cox requested across-the-board class- size waivers, receiving approval for the following new class ratios: one teacher with a full-time paraprofessional per 22 pupils in kindergarten; one teacher per 23 pupils in first through third grades; and one teacher per 30 pupils for fourth through eighth grades.
Beverly Hite, the principal of Meadowbrook Elementary School, said that although some grade levels at her school were approved for higher cap levels, her kindergarten through third-grade class sizes have remained similar to last year's.
Still, Meadowbrook has a very "transient" student base and its enrollment -- which is close to last year's -- could change by the end of the year, meaning classes could grow or decrease, she said.
The one challenge this school year for Meadowbrook, Ms. Hite said, is in remedial education.
"Meadowbrook lost three positions and because of that we have been unable to serve as many of the remedial students as we would like to," she said, adding that remedial classes have a cap of 16 students.
Mr. Svehla said that despite higher cap levels, many Richmond County schools haven't been maxing out class sizes. High schools, he said, didn't have their approved class sizes changed. "There are very few classes up to 30," he said in an e-mail.
Reach Preston Sparks at (706) 828-3851 or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
There'll be more than 43 unfilled positions next year.
When I was in school there were more than 30 kids per class. Granted I graduated in 1971. We learned and had help from the home. Unfortunately there are smaller class sizes now because the kids do not listen and there is no parent involvement. Parents....GET INVOLVED....make your kids respect the teachers and learning and the the class size will not matter!!!
Very Well put. JustMe.
When you were in school they didn't have mainstreaming. If you get a couple of special needs kids in on top of a large class, it's truly awful. Nobody really gets the attention and help that they need.
Corgimom you are absolutely correct about mainstreaming and the real problem is no one knows or wants to admit, what it does to everyone else in a class when all the attention is focused on one "special needs" student. Rather, we just srick our heads in the PC well and say what a wonderful thing we are doing in the name of fairness. What is troubling is do we hire quadruples of "special education" teachers at huge salaries because we integrate every classroom with one or two special ed students? Or do we recognize the huge expense and place all the special eds un a classroom by themselves. BTW I have used the term huge many times in this post and feel it is justified because the RCBOE data base for salaries bears it out.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
