VPerspective
Putting squeeze on kindergartners could have long-lasting effects
Oct 29, 2009 4:40 PM
UFT Vice President Karen Alford (second from left) hears from elementary school teachers about overcrowded classrooms. From left are Robert Fernandez of PS 62 in the Bronx, Eileen Feliciano-Quinn of PS 38 in Manhattan, Rose C. Lynch of PS 155 and Natalie Johnson of PS 56, both in Brooklyn, Corrine J. Barros of PS 62 in the Bronx and Teri Masciolo of PS 34 in Brooklyn.
Would any sane adult host a birthday party for 32 Kindergarteners with no extra help?
Could you imagine having to tie their shoes, take them to the bathroom and ensure the fork goes into a mouth instead of an eye, all while providing entertainment?
Perhaps you could envision it as part of an hysterical sitcom moment.
Chancellor Joel Klein has put teachers and children into a far less comedic predicament.
In real life, teachers aren’t single-handedly keeping kids safe, clean and focused just while they have fun at a birthday party. Every school day, many of our kindergarten teachers are left unaided to fulfill those needs and more while educating students.
When our kindergarten classes are overcrowded, how can one teacher effectively give differentiated instruction to students taking their first academic steps?
How can they support other early childhood experiences such as sharing, zipping coats, holding pencils and following routines without help from another adult?
Antoinette Koram at Brooklyn’s PS 156 found herself with 32 children in her kindergarten, often without a paraprofessional, until her school was able to add another class.
“It was crazy, and I’m sure this is going on in other kindergartens in all five boroughs in schools that may not have had the opportunity to open another classroom like we did,” Koram said.
For Chapter Leader Susan Villani, who teaches in a portable classroom at PS 12 in Brooklyn, crowded kindergartens present a major safety issue.
“We have to walk to and from the main building. The line is never-ending, especially for the gifted kindergarten class, which has 29 children,” Villani said.
Her principal pays for class size from her budget, so usually there are no more than 20 children in a kindergarten. But due to budget cuts, those days are in the past and all classes are over the limit.
“There are times when you’re walking outside with no one to help, no adult to stand at the back of the line, and you think to yourself, ‘God forbid I lose a child.’”
At Chapter Leader Cheryl Hong’s school, PS 124 in Manhattan, only two out of six kindergartens are over the limit, and all teachers have a para.
She’s outraged when she hears about the predicament at other schools.
“That’s crazy,” she said. “That’s ridiculous. How can you work, how can you coordinate, how can you manage, how can you teach?”
Hong also wonders how the Department of Education on the one hand is emphasizing differentiation and on the other “is still stuffing children into classes. How can you possibly differentiate?”
It’s a particular problem in the upper grades at her school.
“We have small rooms here, and we have these bigger bodies crammed into these little tiny classrooms. That’s kind of tough,” Hong said.
It’s hard to comprehend how the DOE can be in compliance with the law when class sizes actually rose last year, despite the fact that tens of millions of dollars were allocated for lowering class size.
That point was made by the union on Oct. 13, at a hearing before the New York City Council Education Committee.
Speaking on behalf of our students at every level, and with full understanding that the city is facing serious financial challenges, we called for targeting the
Contract for Excellence funding with laserlike precision on class-size reduction.
With the support of our district representatives and borough offices, our chapter leaders are filing grievances in those oversized kindergarten classrooms to bring them into compliance.
Every student, regardless of age, deserves better than being stuffed into a crowded classroom. Every teacher deserves better than that. And there’s a reason why the very early grades are supposed to have lower class-size caps than others.
Kindergarten is the foundation. If children don’t get the individual attention they need and if their learning or behavior issues aren’t addressed early enough, it can have a negative impact on their entire academic career and on fellow students and teachers in their future classrooms.
