Peaslee 2nd Grade Appeal to School Committee

Ladies and Gentleman of the School Committee,

We are here tonight as parents of 2nd graders at Peaslee Elementary School to talk to you about class size considerations for this grade. Most of us chose Northborough, in large part, for the exceptional educational opportunities it would offer our children. And in so many ways, Northborough has delivered on that promise. However, we feel that in this particular case, in this particular grade, the system has been failing our kids. They have not been getting the individualized attention promised by the guidelines and policies that drive our education system. When Superintendent Johnson stood up at town meeting last week and presented the proposed budget for next year, she articulated that one of the driving factors for this year’s budget was to support student teacher ratios in accordance with Northborough’s class size policy.

We recognize that when you take our class of 46 students and break it out into two classes of 23 students, it only just misses this policy guideline. However, per the Northborough policy, one of the five criteria for determining class size is “psychological and behavioral concerns.” This is where the problem lies with our grade. And we are concerned that it is a guideline that is being overlooked, in favor of financial constraints.

We understand that financial constraints are a serious concern, and that with dropping enrollment, determining class sizes is not as cut and dry as it once was. To underscore this point, I’d like to note that a number of the parents sitting before you tonight—myself included—have children in other grades that fall above the current desired guidelines, but have not raised concerns in those cases. In the case of Peaslee’s 2nd grade it is not just a class size issue, it is the size of the class, coupled with the composition of this particular grade.

Now, when you take our class of 46 students and divide it into three classes, instead of two, we end up with one class of 16, and two classes of 15. This too falls just outside the policy guideline. We understand that it’s not easy to justify an additional teacher’s salary for a class of 15 or 16 kids. But we’d like you to consider that, in cases like ours, it would not be an investment in 15 kids, but rather an investment in 46. By creating smaller class sizes, you are dramatically improving the educational opportunities for every child in that grade.

It was suggested that we come to you tonight with as many facts and figures as possible to help make a case. Unfortunately, due to privacy constraints, teacher confidentiality and more, it is difficult for us to come to you with many of the facts and figures that we would like to share. But what we do have are stories. Many of these stories are outlined in letters which parents from our grade have sent to Dr. Barnhardt and Superintendent Johnson over the last several weeks. We have copies of most of them for you.

What these stories illustrate, is the fact that this particular grade has an extremely diverse group of needs. Academic needs. Behavioral needs. Emotional needs. Language needs. Social needs. Some diagnosed, and some, we believe, are yet to be diagnosed. As parents, we have watched this group of kids when we volunteer in the classroom, we interact with them at extra-curricular activities including CCD, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Sports and Birthday Parties. We have followed this group of children since Kindergarten, and have recognized that this is a unique mix of kids with a unique set of challenges. This is not a new problem this year. It was a challenge in Kindergarten. It was a challenge in First Grade. And now in Second Grade. And we have watched, and hoped and trusted, that the school would be able to meet all of their needs. But as we approach the Third Grade year — a pivotal, transitional year for learning, and a year in which MCAS testing adds an extra burden on both the children and the teachers, we felt it was time to raise our voices.

Here is a little of what we have witnessed:

• In specials, where many of our parents volunteer, we see consistently that 50% of the time is spent teaching, and 50% is spent “intervening”

• In writers workshop, we have two parent volunteers to help support the teacher, and still it is a challenge to get to each child in the room, because of the significant needs of some. These parents witness students who consistently don’t follow the teacher’s instructions, talk out loud, get up from their seats and wander around the classroom. Managing this, in addition to the extremely varied learning abilities within the room is difficult even with four adults on hand.

• Many children who complete their work are “free reading” as many as 5 or 6 times during the day. And many are choosing books well below their reading level, because they can. Because students who are well behaved and are academically at or above benchmark, require less attention.

• The students were put on an assigned seating plan in library and at lunch because of behavior. We believe they are the only grade in this situation.

• Children who are meeting or exceeding benchmarks are not being challenged and are quiet, lethargic and bored.

• Teachers are spending time during the school day looking up translations for non-English speaking students.

• For some time, students in this class were not allowed to get water at the bubbler after gym class, because of behavior concerns.

• Kids are coming home with scribbles from art class because some of their peers could not follow the project instructions and so the class was told, instead, to “free draw.”

None of us believe that the issue here is a teaching problem. In fact, we are amazed at how the teachers are able to manage in the way that they do. But the reality is, that is what they are doing. Managing.

A 2004 study conducted through the Institute of Education at the University of London concluded that “small classes lead to more individualized task related contacts between teacher and pupils—where pupils are less one of the crowd—and a more active role for pupils in interactions with their teachers.”(1) In other words, teachers spend less time managing, and more time instructing.

Many of you have probably heard of the Tennessee Project STAR—a class size project conducted in the 1980s. Research from this project has “consistently found positive academic improvement for kids whose classes were reduced to roughly 15 students. Kids in these smaller classes continued to do better throughout the later grades and also did better on college entrance exams.” STAR students in smaller classes gained the equivalent of 2-3 months of learning in reading and math. And a five year follow-up study showed gains in reading, math and science persisted through 8th grade. [2]

What’s more—In yearly exit interviews, teachers involved in this program articulated that students in small classes were consistently “more cooperative, supportive, tolerant and caring, in contrast to their experiences with regular-size classes.”[3] This notion supports our goal for Peaslee’s 2nd grade.

There is a good deal of research on the subject, but we suggest that none would be more valuable than the experience of our own teachers. We urge you to talk to them. Ask them what their challenges have been this year. Ask them how the sheer volume of kids in the room has impacted their ability to impart the foundation that these kids need and deserve.

Last week, a group of us had a long and informative meeting with Principal Barnhardt and Superintendent Johnson and we are pleased to hear of the steps being made in terms of additional student support at Peaslee for FY2016. We sincerely hope that the addition of .5 in staff for Child Psychology and .4 in staff for OT will help support the needs in the room. But we urge you to consider whether this is enough to ease the burden on a teacher with 23 diverse students in her classroom, 6 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Superintendent Johnson wisely iterated that without the right solution, you will see us back here again next year. And that is, in fact, absolutely true. We ask you to consider what you really believe that right solution will be.

We would also like to know that you are prepared should additional students matriculate into the grade over the course of this summer. With 10 new 1- and 2-bedroom apartments and a number of new houses under construction in the Peaslee district, this is a very real possibility. And is there potential for the addition of transitional families? We have watched this happen over the past few summers—to the point where Peaslee’s current 5th grade, in which many of us have children, grew to class sizes of 25 and 26 kids last year. We have grave concerns about the impact that numbers like this would have on this already challenging grade.

When you evaluate the additional cost of adding a full-time teacher, we hope you consider, too, the additional costs if you don’t. What are the costs of having students with individualized educational plans that are not fully met? What is the cost of having a grade with MCAS scores that drop, because adequate instruction could not be given? What is the cost of having students with needs that go unrecognized? What is the cost of having bright and talented students that are not effectively nurtured, and instead become bored? What is the cost of having teachers that are emotionally and physically exhausted?

We urge you to create an environment in which teachers have the bandwidth to give EACH child the individualized attention that they deserve—whether they are on an IEP, a behavioral plan, need ELL assistance, whether they excel in Math, exceed all the benchmarks, or just need a little extra help with reading.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Concerned Parents of the Peaslee 2nd Grade