Class sizes sharply rising & 7,000 violations this fall despite Bloomberg campaign promises
It’s been a busy week. On Wednesday there was a spirited rally on the steps of Tweed to protest the continued cuts to school budgets, the loss of art, music & afterschool program, and the sharp increases in class sizes; a good summary of the event is on the Ed Vox blog. There were great speeches by parents and elected officials, and I met a large contingent from PS 217 in Roosevelt Island, protesting Kindergarten classes of 28 and 5th grade classes of 34, even though there are empty rooms in the building.
On Thursday, I joined a UFT press conference at Murry Bergtraum HS, where Michael Mulgrew reported on the 7,000 classes that violate the union limits, with more than 250,000 students sitting (or standing) in these oversized classes during the first ten days of school. (Contractual class size limits – already far too large – are 25 students in Kindergarten; 32 students in grades 1-6: 33 students in non-title I