Moorestown teachers asked the board not to adopt a revision to the district’s class size policy.
Moorestown teachers showed a unified front at Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting as they took turns speaking about the power of a word. A potential change to the district’s class size policy up for second reading in June inserts language that elementary grades “shall generally not exceed” 25 students and not exceed 22 students in kindergarten. Teachers discussed how “generally” changing the policy could open the door for class sizes to rise.
The proposed policy inserts the word “generally,” and the superintendent must notify the board at its next meeting if a class size falls outside of the outlined range. Superintendent Scott McCartney said under the current policy, standard practice is the superintendent comes to the board for a waiver when class sizes exceed the maximum.
During the policy committee report, Tinamarie Nicolo-Dorfner said, while the policy change was introduced for first reading at the April meeting, the committee received feedback it wanted to take into consideration and chose to table the second reading until June.
Moorestown Education Association president Lisa Trapani said the only changes that should be made to the policy are to lower class size, not make it more broad by inserting the word “generally.”
Kathleen Nixon, a third-grade teacher at George C. Baker Elementary School, said the school system is the №1 reason why people, including herself, move to Moorestown. She said for that reason, the district needs to stay abreast of current research to ensure it is providing its students with the best education, and current research indicates students learn better when classes are smaller.
She said she and her colleagues did some research and found that neighboring districts Medford, Voorhees, Cherry Hill and Haddonfield all have smaller average class sizes.
“We need to ask the question, why is Moorestown class size higher than our surrounding districts?” Nixon said.
Nixon said smaller class sizes allow teachers more one-on-one time with students, allow teachers to identify students with learning issues more quickly and create a more cohesive class culture.
“Teacher’s attention is more focused,” Nixon said. “Students are more inclined to be more enthusiastic to the material.”
Hannah Guida, a first-grade teacher at Baker, discussed how a “generally large class size” has a negative impact. She said the physical layout of the room becomes congested, which is not conducive to small groups or hands-on activities.
Laurie Fordham, a teacher at Mary E. Roberts Elementary School, said she started the year with a class that was over the cap. She said there are currently 67 students registered for kindergarten next fall, which, when divided by the three teachers, already puts one teacher over the cap.
Bridget Potts, a first-grade teacher at Roberts, said in her eyes, the word “generally” makes it so the board does not have to have a public vote.
“The reaction from the board is we’re going to add this word so that we no longer, in front of any of us that have those 23 five-year-olds in a room, have to sit here and watch you say ‘yes,’” Potts said. “That is truly the only takeaway I and my colleagues can take from that.”
Potts asked the board to “have the courage” to take on lowering class sizes.
Trapani said the change makes the superintendent the sole person responsible for addressing class size caps. She said while the district currently has a superintendent who was an educator and who values class size, she is concerned this may not always be the case. She urged the board to leave the policy alone.
The policy will be up for second reading at the board’s next meeting on Tuesday, June 12, at 7 p.m. in William Allen Middle School.
