Here in Northshore educators are also wearing RED FOR ED in a statewide push to draw attention to the fact that budget cuts to education shortchange our students. They'll also be sharing their stories of how budget cuts and bigger classes are making it tougher for students to have all the opportunities they deserve.
Throughout the week, we'll share these stories and photos of our members in red. If you want to share a story or a photo, email it from your HOME email address to lking@washingtonea.org or tbrittell@washingtonea.org. You can also send your story--using your HOME email--to your state legislator your friends, neighbors, and local newspapers. Click here to learn how to contact your legislator.
Here's our first photo of the day...a group of teachers at Woodinville High School decked out in red!
Here are a few stories we've received:
“There is simply not enough time in the class period to reach them all.”
I started in Northshore as one of the last teachers hired before the district could no longer afford to fill vacant positions. We have been lucky so far: no teachers have been RIFed. However, in the four years since I started, I have seen my classes increase size. Every year I have the largest class in my history. The classroom space becomes less conducive to movement and active participation. I do the best I can to modify and transform my teaching to reach many more kids. However, no methods can really address the fact that 30 plus students in classrooms mean teachers only have so much time to reach and help struggling students. Adding two students to each class may not seem like a lot, but remember, we have been increasing class sizes for years. Every time this happens, it builds. As I am doing example problems in math, as long as all the kids get them right, I'm fine, but every struggling kid added to my numbers means that I have one more kid who needs more intervention. I have to reach all the struggling students, and adding ONE more struggling student to a full class makes it much harder to reach them, because struggling students take much more of my time. Students who struggle require one-on-one attention. There is simply not enough time in the class period to reach them all.
When class sizes go up by two on average, remember that some classes are affected disproportionately, because we try to keep special education and intervention classes small. This means that all of the students who don't qualify for services, but struggle almost as much as those receiving services, are in classes with 30 or more students.
When classes go up by two on average, remember that teachers jobs are lost. Mentorships are lost. Kids who connected with a teacher no longer have that resource, that person who cares checking in with them to see how they are doing in school and sometimes, in life. Two boys once told me, "No teacher has ever liked us before." Whether this was true or not, it was an important connection that this person cares about me and believes in me. When we let teachers go with these connections, we communicate to kids that they don’t count. These kids can't afford us to make these statements.
Please help me and more importantly stand together with me to help the children whose futures are being compromised.
Matt Lang, Northshore Junior High
"...we don't have sufficient time or financial resources..."
I never realized that I was part of the social safety net until it hit me square between the eyes in just the first few months of this school year. I believe, at SAS, we have a higher proportion of students in the lowest economic group than in any other school in the district. This is the group being hit the hardest by cuts in funding. I have never before dealt with the economic turmoil that has affected so many of our students this year. Unfortunately, we don't have sufficient time or financial resources, like we had before, to assists these students in a meaningful way. I've seen an increase in students going hungry, missing school because they need to help their families out, sleepy students who must work late into the night to eke out a living, or turning to illegal activities just to get by. All of this makes our jobs as teachers less effective, because we're forced to deal with so many social issues that are brought into the classroom and take us away from our primary task of educating out students. I'm not suggesting just throwing money at the situation, but instead, returning funding levels to previous years which allowed us to affectively intervene when students are in crisis and still meet the mission of a high class education.
Tony Olney, SAS
Increasingly Large Class Sizes Mean Less Time with Every Student
If we knew that every student coming into our rooms was at grade level in their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, having a few more wouldn’t be so detrimental to student learning. If we knew that every student was living in a safe and nurturing home, was well-rested, had eaten breakfast, and wasn’t responsible for raising their younger siblings, then having a few more students added to our class sizes wouldn’t be so detrimental. If we knew that every student lived in an environment where education is valued, homework is prioritized, and extra help is accessible if needed, then adding a few more wouldn’t be so detrimental. If we take a minute to think about all of the families in our community struggling in so many ways, and remember that it is their children filling our classrooms with needs greater than we have ever known, increasing class size seems plainly irresponsible and wrong. We serve every family, every student, no matter what, and with that open-door policy comes our responsibility to assist struggling learners. Adding just one or two more students to each class every year is making that next to impossible to do.
Rebecca Nielsen, Northshore Junior High
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