Clarification regarding class sizes and budget cuts (for those of you who want even more detail)

Several parents have had questions about the class sizes, teacher cuts, enrollment, and budget, so I thought I would clarify.  (If you've heard enough about this, I will understand!)

The cuts made at Nixon were made due to a combination of the budget impact AND enrollment changes.  That is, we would have made cuts even without the budget.  Nixon's enrollment decreased at Kindergarten, resulting in 3 sections instead of 4.  I suspect that a number of parents are choosing to send their children to full day kindergarten programs and then enrolling them at our school in first grade.  The class sizes are still at about 18, so this hasn't really impacted class size.  This meant that I have to move one full time Kindergarten teacher to another grade (not yet determined), who then "bumped" out another teacher.  This caused one of the lay-offs.  

In first grade, we planned during district budgeting for four sections of nicely sized classes.  However, only very recently it has become clear that 20 students were coming into first grade as new students, about double what we generally experience.  The class sizes have obviously increased somewhat (to about 23-24 currently).  I know this seems large to Sudbury parents, but keep in mind that MANY districts have classes of this size (and almost none have assistants).

At third grade, class size guidelines increase across the district (this is common in similar districts).  As a result, Nixon reduced from 4 sections with the current 2nd grade to 3 sections in next year's third grade.  This resulted in another lay off.  It is possible that if we were flush with teachers we might have been able to maintain four sections, but not necessarily, as resources are deployed across the district to the places that need it most.

At fourth grade, we originally planned for four sections at Nixon during budgeting, although this resulted in class sizes of 27-28.  (There was an error in this number in my last letter.)  Had this occurred, it would have required a reduction of an additional teacher, because third grade now has five sections.  However, right around the override vote time it became apparent that we would get a little additional state aid.  Using the information we had at the time, a district decision was made to add a section to three of the four schools at fourth grade, given the extremely high class sizes and the heavy curriculum demands of grade 4.  Therefore, a section was added at Nixon (and two other schools with very large fourth grades) and the third teacher layoff was unnecessary.  While it may seem that fourth grade class sizes are relatively low, keep in mind that reducing the sections would have resulted in class sizes of up to 28, something that is quite outside the norm of similar districts.

Each year at the district level, the enrollment in each grade level at each school is examined and class sizes and number of sections calculated.  This is not an individual school-based decision, and it is not due to parent lobbying, but rather takes a big picture look across the district.  While it may seem that some grade levels at some schools get a better or worse "deal," the fact of the matter is that we always work for equity and need across the district, and sometimes a particular grade just has an awkward number of students.  A few districts in Massachusetts have mixed grade classes to make a low class size the top priority (e.g. say a combined 2nd/3rd class), but Sudbury is not using that model, and I agree with the one grade per class philosophy given the intensity of our curriculum.

So, Nixon has laid off two classroom teachers total rather than the three we had originally anticipated.

Due to the budget cuts, we also reduced the time that our music teacher will be at Nixon, and another teacher will be coming to Nixon to teach music part of the time.  Due to the budget, 5th grade chorus has been cut as well, and as a result, there will be no school-sponsored 5th grade play.  5th graders will continue to have general music as do the other grade levels.  Other schools in town have reduced other specialists and some schools have multiple shared specialists.  This is not an ideal situation, but quite common in budget cutting situations.

There have been other cuts as well, as you know, including kindergarten and 1st grade assistants.  I know that parents and teachers will experience this as a real loss.  However, it is important to recognize that this was a resource that many other similar towns have never had (for example, in Lexington we never had them).  I know that our teachers will work hard to adapt to the new situation.   A number of parents have asked what they can do to help and whether they can volunteer to "replace" the assistants.  The staff and I very much appreciate parents willingness to help out.  However, I need to give teachers time to work in their new situation, to determine their needs.  

Please understand that sometimes managing many different volunteers can take time from the children.

 
Again, keep in mind that the vast majority of a school district's budget is wrapped up in people, and there is simply no way to make major cuts without cutting people.  

I hope this is helpful for those of you who value details.  

Joni Jay