Racine Class Sizes Are 'Horrible'
Some students are forced
to sit on folding chairs
WEAC News & Views
November 1998
- By Anne Egan-Waukau
WEAC media consultant
Thirteen-year-old Aaron got a treat when he arrived at his 7th-hour
history class in Racine’s Mitchell Middle School on a recent Friday
afternoon.
“All right! I got my own desk!” he exclaimed.
That day marked the end of a seven-week nightmare Aaron (not his real
name) experienced when he and as many as 44 classmates arrived in Connie
Syslack’s classroom.
“I’d get to sit down at a desk only if enough kids were missing
and there was an empty seat,” he said.
Syslack, a 20-year veteran, was frustrated – to say the least.
"This
school is just falling apart at the seams" |
“The administration doesn’t get the concept that there is
nowhere for the kids to sit. I can’t get any more desks. Where
would I put them?” she asked.
“Look,” she said, pointing around her room, “I have
34 desks. I don’t have desks for some of the students. I’d
put five kids at that table and then put folding chairs in the aisle.
“It has gotten to the point where some students just don’t
show up. I can’t imagine why – maybe because there’s
no place to sit?”
What is causing these unmanageable class sizes? Parents, teachers,
and union officials agree it’s the state law which imposes revenue
controls on school districts.
“The district is trying to save money – $250,000 at Mitchell,”
Syslack said. But it’s hurting the kids. And to those on the front
lines, it’s not worth it.
“The state is concerned about test scores, but every move it is
forcing the school board to make is counter-productive to that end,”
Syslack said.
Racine Education Association Director James Ennis said the problem
is district-wide. The association is conducting a survey to better determine
the extent of the overcrowded classroom problem.
“This is where the revenue controls have cut into the flesh,”
Syslack said. “We’ve all been frustrated by this situation.
We were told this would be fixed 2½ weeks into the school year,
and now we are in our 7th week.
“It breaks your heart to see them do this to these kids. The $3
million they took from Racine Unified – the kids are paying for
it,” Syslack said.
She said the school has 20 fewer 8th graders this year than last year,
but has five fewer full- and part-time teachers. Class sizes have increased
dramatically from a range of 20 to 30 last year.
“This year, I have 182 students in five classes. The lowest number
is 30, the highest is 45,” Syslack said. School policy provides
a recommended class size of 25-30 and a stated “maximum” class
size of 35.
Rick J. Kaufman, public information and communications specialist for
the Racine Unified School District, admitted that increased class sizes
are a problem.
“It’s horrible. It’s not ideal,” Kaufman said.
“When the budget is so tight and when you are cutting $4.8 million,
everyone is affected. Everyone has to take a hit. We tried to make it
as minimal as possible.
“When the revenue controls were imposed, most school districts
levied to the cap limits,” Kaufman said. “Racine didn’t
and it was a mistake, plain and simple. It automatically put the district
behind what they had to spend on education and kids.
“The problem is compounded by student enrollment decreases and
the teacher contract that was finally settled after seven years.”
The district will be looking at holding a referendum in February that,
if approved, will allow it to exceed the spending caps and “hopefully
that will help cut the class sizes down," Kaufman said.
On the day News & Views visited Mitchell Middle School, rumor had
it that school officials were making schedule changes to combat the
problem, but it was chaotic. “Most of these kids are furious. They
have bonded with their teachers. They like their classes and don’t
want to move,” Syslack said. “And now we have teachers teaching
subjects they haven’t taught before.”
Amy, 14, is one of Syslack’s students who voiced her frustration.
“I have an LD problem, so I lost some one-on-one time. That bothered
me,” she said.
Sue Hahner, whose 14-year-old daughter Erika is in Syslack’s class,
was also upset.
“It blows me away, what this district is doing,” Hahner said.
“It’s the kids who are hurting.”
Hahner, who is administrative assistant at the Racine Education Association,
said the district knew about the problem last spring but took no measures
to plan for the overcrowding.
“Now they’re slashing left and right. They are talking about
slashing $3 million more from the district next year. I don’t know
how they are going to do it,” she said.
“It’s scary,” Hahner said, adding, “This school is
just falling apart at the seams.”
“This is the seventh week of school and I was told not to put any
grades in my grade book because they keep switching everyone,” Syslack
said. “The LD teacher had the kids’ schedule changed seven times.
That’s criminal.
“The kids who come in here come in ready to learn and to do a good
job,” she said. “It’s frustrating not to be able to provide
what I think is excellent education. Especially when I know we can do
a better job and everywhere there are hurdles that keep us from doing
an excellent job.”
Syslack said her dedication to kids keeps her fighting.
“I feel real ownership for this program in this school. I’m
a stubborn woman, and I don’t give up,” she said. “It’s
not over yet.”
Note: The names of students quoted in this story and in the sidebar
have been changed, with the exception of Erika Hahner. Special Ed students frustrated and angry
Large class sizes frustrate all students and directly affect the quality
of education they are able to receive. But special education students
are hit especially hard, according to educators, parents and students
at Racine’s Mitchell Middle School.
"They
make me want to leave. They keep messing up stuff." |
In fact, here is what some of the exceptional education kids had to
say about having their schedules constantly changed throughout the school
year.
Jerry, 13: “They make me want to leave. They keep messing
up stuff.”
John, 12: “I don’t like it. I’ve had my schedule
changed three times, and I don’t like it. It made me mad.”
Randall, 13: “I just got started on a wood project in Tech
Ed. They just took me out of that class. I paid $7. They’re trying
to get me back in that class so I can finish my project.”
Tammy, 13: “They changed my class. Now I can’t see
my best friend.”
All were in Susan Nigohosian’s 7th-hour class. Nigohosian and
history teacher Connie Syslack shared students as part of the Regular
Education Initiative. REI is where learning disabled students are mainstreamed
with other students.
“It’s very sad because I feel that in this particular case,
I’d like to give the kids support and I didn’t know myself
until this (sudden reassignment of students) happened,” Nigohosian
said.
Extra Points
- Racine Education Associa-tion President Dennis Wiser said this has
been “the worst start we’ve had in 20 years in our schools.”
- Wiser said about class sizes: “It’s about as bad as it
can be. Grievances are being filed all over the place. Jim (Ennis,
REA executive director) has been working straight through weekends.”
- Wiser said the school board knew about the budget cuts last summer
and decided to raise the average class size by five. “Now, there
are literally waiting lists for kids to get into classes.”
- The district could have saved money without hurting students. But,
Wiser said, “There were no administrative cuts. They spent millions
on computers, but they do not have the staff to install them, so they
are piling up equipment.”
- Robert T. Stepien, assistant superintendent of business services,
quoted in the Racine Journal Times, blamed the financial problems,
in part, on the fact the district failed to generate revenues to the
maximum allowed under revenue controls. “Consequently,”
he said, “this decision adversely affected the district for subsequent
budgets since the initial year of revenue caps was the foundation
for future budgets.”
Posted October 19, 1998