Teachers demand cuts in class size

By Kate Pastor

Teachers at seven local schools are among those who filed annual classsize grievances with the city Department of Education last week, because they say they are teaching more students than their contracts allow.

Preliminary information provided by the United Federation of Teachers, showed that PS 81, PS 24, the David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy, MS/HS 141, the Bronx School of Law and Finance, the Bronx High School of Science, John F. Kennedy High School and the IN-Tech Academy, MS/HS 368, all filed class-size grievances with the DOE, though some of them may be resolved before the cases come to arbitration.

Some of the schools on the list come as no surprise since they have been vocal about being overcapacity since the start of the school year. The UFT grievance process is just one more tool — this time at the disposal of teachers — for them to speak out.

UFT chapter leader at PS 81, Dorothy Piontek, said the school has filed grievances for four classes in the third grade and four in the second grade, which are each operating with 30 students in the class despite the 28-pupil limit set by the UFT.

Second and third grades at the school were among those that were recently capped — meaning they would not receive any new students — by the DOE. However, Ms. Piontek said, “We send in the capping forms and we still get children in.”

Grievances were also filed for third-grade classes at PS 24 this year. Right now each class has about 30 students, two more than allowed, according to its principal, Philip Scharper. He said he is also still waiting for the DOE to cap that grade. To make up for the overload, he said the school has deployed a part-time substitute teacher and also a recently graduated new teacher to work in the classrooms, as well as an academic intervention service teacher and parent volunteers.

At MS/HS 141, Ms. O’Mara said four out of the seven classes in the seventh grade exceed the 32-student limit, by one student each. She, too, has asked that her classes be capped and is still waiting for a decision to be handed down by the DOE.

According to PS 81 Principal Ms. Mashel, “Sometimes a class size grievance helps a school reduce the class size more than a principal can.” She said the grievance process carries “a seriousness about it that demonstrates to the organizational powers that we need some help with that.”

During the first 10 days of school, principals and UFT chapter leaders are required by contract to try to resolve class size issues informally. If they cannot, chapter leaders at each school can demand arbitration within two days, and the case is to be heard within five. Until then, schools have a chance to resolve the problems on their own.

Once arbitration has begun, if a school is experiencing classsize overages for the first time and there is no room to create another class, the school may be allowed to carry out the year with its larger-than-contractual size. However, that exception is only made once. If there is physical space in the school the principal is required to create another class and hire another teacher.

That’s exactly the idea for Bronx School of Law and Finance Principal Evan Schwartz. He said grievances at his school were filed with his full support, as he hopes it will lead to getting some additional classroom space. “The reason why I don’t create another section is not because of money, it’s because of space,” he said.

He was surprised, he said, by the number of students who actually reported to class this year, saying he usually can rely on a certain percentage of registered students not to show up. This year just about everybody came, bringing the average class size in three of his ninthgrade classes up to 37 students — five more than the UFT contract allows for high-school.

MS/HS 368 has also filed grievances for the sixth, seventh and eighth grades, all of which have been capped by the DOE. Principal Rose Fairweather- Clunie said she was 25 students over in the seventh grade and would be adding an additional class to accommodate them. She said she is also working on resolving class size issues in grades six and eight, but believed she would be able to do so before arbitration is commenced, as has been the case in years past.

Dianne Stillman, UFT chapter chair for John F. Kennedy High School, said that school’s grievance pertained to one class with one extra student and she expects the school will be able to solve the problem on its own.

This is part of the September 25, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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