Melissa: Growing Pains

Normally it doesn’t bother me when my students ask a question to which I do not know the answer. It’s not unusual to hear me say, “I don’t know. Let’s look it up!” It’s an instant teachable moment; just add Google.

But last week a student asked me a question that neither I nor Google could answer. The question: Why is there going to be another vote for new schools in our district?

The school where I teach is packed to the gills. In fact, just about every school in my district is full or over capacity. This is not too surprising, considering that the city’s population has grown 73% over the past decade. In order to build more schools, voters need to pass a referendum that will increase property taxes. The city has voted against the referendum twice already, and chance number three is coming up for a vote in May. As both a teacher and a parent, I am praying it passes.

As a teacher, I find this very frustrating. Education is a NEED; it’s not some fancy indulgence. When the city needs a new road or additional police officers or fire fighters, there is no public vote — it just happens. But when schools need additional resources, everyone has to agree.

As a parent, I am concerned that my son might be in a very large class when he starts kindergarten. Will he need to be bussed to a far-away school, where there’s room? Will the district need to redraw school boundaries to finagle kids around?

Some people argue that the school board is asking for too much, that the schools are going overboard. I can assure you, I don’t have a jewel-encrusted throne at my desk, and there is no concierge that delivers lobster tails to the staff for lunch. In fact, teachers at my school struggle to get computer access for their classes, students have been bussed to other buildings for gym class because there simply isn’t enough space, and one hallway is actually used to hold classes. That’s right, we ran out of actual classrooms.

We teachers are not asking for fancy new stuff for ourselves — we want it for our students. How can we teach our students 21st-century skills when it’s difficult to get them regular access to a computer? How can teachers meet the needs of every student in a class that’s pushing 30 kids? (Now imagine that class being held in a hallway. And it includes five kids with IEPs.) Our students deserve better.

This is also frustrating for me as a special education teacher. My goal is to have my students in general education classes as much as possible. But it’s difficult for inclusion to be successful when class sizes are so large. The social studies class my students attend has 29 students in it . . . plus the teacher, a student teacher, my paraeducator, and myself. It’s more than a little crowded. Some of my students are uncomfortable with how close the desks are to each other. As soon as it’s work time, those students ask to leave the room to work elsewhere.

I would gladly invite anyone who plans to vote “no” on this referendum to spend a day at my school. Stand in the hallway between classes. Sit in the lunchroom . . . without ear plugs. It’s loud and it’s full.

Recently the local news aired a clip of students passing between classes at our local high school. My husband asked, “Is that really what it’s like!?” Yes, it is. It is wall-to-wall people. It is hard to walk through. It causes anxiety for even me; I can only imagine what it does to my students with autism.

It truly hurts my heart to hear people list the reasons they don’t want more room for our students. Many have stated that if “we” were doing our jobs right, we wouldn’t need additional resources. Indeed, I think we all do an amazing job with what we have. But how much more could we do if we had the space we need?

If we take a big handful of flower seeds and put them in a little pot, not all of the seeds will take root and grow. The same thing is true in school. Let’s work together to make the pot bigger, and see what blooms.

Comments

[Dana Peacock]

"If we take a big handful of flower seeds and put them in a little pot, not all of the seeds will take root and grow. The same thing is true in school. Let’s work together to make the pot bigger, and see what blooms." I love this analogy. It seems that your city official's eyes are two sizes to small. Why in the world is education not number one everywhere? After all, we are educating the future here.

[Leisl]

Melissa
I can only imagine what this environment must be like. Growing up and even in my placement schools for field work I have never come across a school as crowded as you describe. It breaks my heart that voters have voted no TWICE. I believe teachers need to become more politically involved by advocating for the needs of the teachers and schools. Maybe if the school brought in people from the community to observe the situation or posters are made with pictures of the crouded classrooms and halls. The voters need to be educated about the severity of the situation and all community members should be educated on the importance of their vote. I hope all goes well with the third vote.

[Melissa]

Thank you all so much for your comments! I really enjoy reading them. It's very nice to feel support from people I don't even know. I hope to get to meet a lot of you at the CEC convention! :o)

To answer one question about what I think about the poor use of allocated funds, I think the answer is education. NASA could park a shuttle in my classroom, which would be awesome to look at and sound really impressive to others, but if no one taught me what to do with it, I would have to just sit and look at it. The same is true with stuff like smart boards. I think the class my district offers (16 Things on a Stick, previous--and an upcomming--post) is a wonderful idea. It costs the district next to nothing to offer it and it teaches us to use technology that is already available to us. Having the technology is great, but if no one really (and I mean REALLY) explains it, it isn't going to do anyone any good.

I will be sure to let you all know how the vote goes! :o)

[Jonathan]

Melissa,

I wholeheartedly agree with your views regarding the upcoming referendum for your school district. I think it is so crucial for Americans to realize that the strength of our nation depends upon the success and quality of our schools. Without high-quality resources and manageable class sizes, we are setting students up for failure. It seems that some people with a pure business mindset fail to recognize the importance of maintaining high-quality schools. To me, this is a unfortunate miscalculation on their part. When we provide a high-quality education for our students, they can graduate and move on to college or join the work force as highly-skilled and competent men and women. Their success and high level of performance in prospective jobs strengthens our nation economically and socially. On the contrary, if we are sending kids into the job market without the knowledge and skills needed to be successful, our nation suffers economically and socially. We need to unite together and fight for better schools because it will directly lead to a better America for everyone.

[Phillip]

This post makes me very sad. I agree 100% that education should not be considered a luxury nor a commodity. I am lucky to live in a district where schools are sufficiently added which is leading to limited class sizes and incrasing the impact of education.

[Wendell]

WOW!I really enjoyed your blog, and could not sgree with you more. I hate to hear that a levy hasn't passed in various cities, when it relates to education. Non-educators don't see the big picture, which are the students, all they see or talk about are teacher salaries or the actual school buildings. They don't see the lasting affects a failed vote has on the students. the quote you shared says it all. Thanks!

[Sheena]

Michael,
Love that quote! How true!

[Melissa Noonan-Gallant]

I can relate to this situation as the school that I teach in has been in a similar circumstance with overcrowding for the past few years. They have started to plan an extension starting next month. Although the class sizes are not as large as you have mentioned in your school. I feel for you as their special education teacher as it must be extremely difficult to do appropriate programming while keeping the students included in the general classroom. I hope that this all works out for you, your school and especially the students! Good luck!

[Marlena Wragg]

This situation is heartbreaking. I hope that the vote passes this time. I can only imagine how difficult it must be to provide you students the best education possible, when it feels as though there is no room in the INN.

[Kaitlin Woods]

While I read this it breaks my heart, we are facing the opposite in our county. My small school of 320 students has one more year left and then they are closing it. While we also face larger class sizes then ever, it is hard to see us have to move to a school that is going to be over 1000 people in it? I am sad that I will loose my small school and with that the family community that we have with it. We know our parents, the parents know us. Our behavior problems are few since many of the parents are their every day, or are personal friends with a teacher in the building. Like you spoke about how can we accommodate our students with IEP's and provide a true LRE when we have 30 students or more a class? Is that anyone's proper place for learning? A challenge I am facing as a self contained teacher is that all the regular education classes have received a SMART board and they aren't all being used to their full potential. As a young teacher (23) it is frustrating to me that I asked to have a SMART board since I have been trained to use one in college and was told no since I have a self contained and could share with others. I hope your county passes and you get the most desperate relief you need in your county.

[Shira]

"As a parent, I am concerned that my son might be in a very large class when he starts kindergarten. Will he need to be bussed to a far-away school, where there’s room? Will the district need to redraw school boundaries to finagle kids around?"

I think this issue of large class size is a serious concern. Did you see this Op-Ed in The Washington Post. Ms. Moskowitz thinks that class size isn't so much of an issue as is resources and other things...but I do think it is problematic if a kindergarden student is in a class with over 30 kids!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-cost-of-small-class-size/2011/03/03/AFPGSkkB_story.html

[Jennifer]

Lauren,
I think part of the problem is lack of knowledge on the part of the teachers on how to use things such as smart boards. We did not grow up with this technology so it is different and some teachers may even feel too difficult to bother with in the already crowded day. I think that adding technology to schools that can use it is a great idea, however there also has to be training for the teachers who do not know how to use the technology for the funds to be properly allotted.
Another suggestion would be to only put smart boards in some of the rooms, if the school has space, and allow these rooms to be signed out if a teacher wants to use them.

[Amanda]

Lauren,

When I student taught, the school was exactly how you described; a smart board in every room and the only way they were used was to magnify documents!

[Holly]

It sounds like your school really does need the additional funds to help with spacing and overcrowdedness. If the proposal for the funds keeps getting denied, is it perhaps because the majority of the voters are those individuals who do not have any connections with the school? Perhaps a lot of them do not have children and thus they do not truly understand the reality of the situation and the need for these additional funds. Maybe more of those individuals and families with connections to the school, who understand the problem need to be encouraged to vote. Sometimes community members do not vote in school elections because they feel that their voice will not be heard and maybe they just need to be made to realize that their vote will make a difference.I hope the vote swings your way this time!

[April]

I too want to know more about funding and what we can do if anything to combat this. The students are the ones that suffer. Any ideas?

[April]

We have alot on our plates as teachers but we must not give up or get discouraged. I do think we need to constantly be revamping our education system but until then we keep on trucking. We keep going beyond what we sometimes want to do but, we can't let that influence so much of our times that it takes away from the classroom.

[Lauren]

What do you think about poor use of allocated funds and how we can combat this? For example, I've noticed in the school I'm interning in that every classroom has a Smartboard, but I've only seen it used twice in my class.

[Michael]

"Some people see things as they are and ask why. I see things as they can be and ask, why not?"
— Robert F. Kennedy

The metaphor of the bigger pot is like the analogy in the quote above from RFK. As teachers, we know that this is can-do America! Yes, we can have good education for the good of all and for our future, but it takes hard work and sacrifice. Where did those values go?