Queens High Schools Reported 3,399 Oversize Classes, With Forest Hills Topping The List

Queens High Schools Reported 3,399 Oversize Classes, With Forest Hills Topping The List

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Edited by Dr.  Dan Miller, Education Contributor

 

President Michael Mulgrew is concerned that students are learning in oversized classes on a daily basis.

As the 2009-2010 school year began, almost 7,500 classes in the city’s elementary, intermediate and high schools exceeded the contracted class size limit, leaving an estimated 225,000 students in an oversize class for all or part of each day, according to a survey by the United Federation of Teachers of its members.

 

The annual survey found that as September 18, 2009 there were at least 1,969 oversize classes in elementary, middle and intermediate schools.  With at least 5,450 such classes in high schools the current total of oversize classes is 7,419.

 

Queens high schools had 3,399 oversize classes, while BASIS (a combination of Staten Island and some Brooklyn high schools) had 795 oversize classes.  The number was 641 for Manhattan high schools, 474 for other Brooklyn high schools, and 118 for Bronx high schools.

 

There were 512 oversize classes in Queens elementary/intermediate schools;  386 in Brooklyn elementary/intermediate schools;  219 in Bronx elementary/intermediate schools;  154 in Staten Island, and 143 in Manhattan elementary/intermediate schools.

 

Nineteen high schools had 100 or more oversize classes, including Forest Hills (384 oversized classes), Benjamin Cardozo (374), and Richmond Hill (353).

 

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “Our kids deserve better than this.  Students need to be in classes small enough for them to get individual attention.  The Department of Education must begin now to reduce the number of oversize classes and give our students a better chance to learn.”

 

The UFT issues its annual survey of class size in September of every school year.  At the beginning of the last school year the total number of oversize classes at this time was 5,913 (1,140 in elementary and middle schools; 4,773 in high schools).

 

Some of the possible reasons for the increase in oversize classes this fall include budget cuts that reduced the number of teachers and programs at schools; the closure or phasing out of some schools, concentrating students in fewer buildings; and population increases in certain neighborhoods.

 

 

According to the UFT contract there are class size limits to promote a quality instructional program giving students and teachers an opportunity to work together more effectively.

 

The Class size limits are:  kindergarten – 25 students;  grades 1 through 3 – 28 students; grades 4-6, 32 students; junior high schools in high poverty areas – 30 students;  other junior high schools – 33 students;  high school – 34 students.   The class size limits are established by DOE agreements with the UFT, along with state and City Council mandates.

 

The UFT has announced that it will be filing official grievances on these oversize classes this week as part of the effort to reduce class sizes across the city.

 

The estimate of students affected was based on an average of 30 students in each of the nearly 7,500 oversize classes.

 

All information provided by the United Federation of Teachers. The UFT is the union representing teachers, para-professionals, school counselors in the New York City Public Schools.