How many students are in your DC's public elementary class?

[yourmother]

My DS is in first grade and his class has 23 students.  My mom was a third grade teacher for the first half of her career and then an elementary school counselor for the second half of her career.  She was shocked at how many children are in my ds's class.  

Not sure if this is relevant information, but he attends a Title 1 school.

PS - I'm not complaining.  I ADORE his teacher and love the school.  My mom's reaction had me wondering what the norm is.

[af1212]

At my kids elementary school grades k-3 have 25 as their cap. 4 and 5 have 30. Not sure about MS yet.

This is consistent with my experience as a teacher in a neighboring district.

[Patsy Baloney]

Ooo, we're right on the border of your breakdown. I think this year my kiddo has 20 in her class, but in years past they've had up to 23-24.

[Jalapeñomel]

DS starts 3rd grade on 9/9, and there are 25 in his class.

There’s been 25 in K-2 as well.

[Jalapeñomel]

Oh and it’s absolutely too many children in one classroom for any age level, but especially elementary.

[sofamonkey]

It’s usually 20-25, but I’m not sure this year. We still have the hybrid option and distancing in the classroom. It’ll like be closer to the 20, but we won’t know for a week.

[krystee]

My son has 24, and he’s in first grade. I went to a Catholic grade school and had between 21 and 25 every year.

[cmeon]

FL's class size amendment:

18 students in prekindergarten through grade 3;
22 students in grades 4 through 8; and
25 students in grades 9 through 12.

In actuality, elementary ran under (15-16 kids) 1st-3rd, and slightly over (23-24 kids) 4th-5th, and nobody even tries anymore after that. Schools can go by "averages" now (our legislature loves to determine what voters REALLY meant in curious ways), which is incredibly easy to fudge because there are ESE kids in mixed grade classrooms (reported as a 3:1 class for that grade) and "combo classes" (16 Honors ELA students + 16 Pre-IB ELA students with one teacher is magically recorded as two 16:1 classes).

[circa1978]

Around 20 with two teachers in the room and specialists that rotate in.

[mysteriouswife]

DS is in 1st. He has 17, but this low compared to normal. They were given a grant to hire an extra teacher per grade level at the school. Prior to this year it would have been 23-25.

DD has 40 in one of her HS classes. And they wonder why covid is running rampant

ETA: DS’s class has a paraprofessional too. He is in the inclusion class. This is also not typical for 1st grade classrooms. He and another child share her services. I believe she works with the whole class though

[m15]

I teach kindergarten and our magic number is usually 20. If we go beyond that, they will typically hire another teacher. Currently, I have 16.

My third grader has 18 kids in his class.

[nicolewi]

I think our cap is 25, too. My kids' classes have usually had 21 to 23ish. It's been fine and seems "normal" to me.

[sandandsea]

23 for Ds in K, they try to cap it at 25.
27 now for Ds in 4th, which is lower than the 30 cap the pst 3 years

[waterfalls]

DD is in 5th grade and has 26 kids in her class. This is the biggest class in person that she’s been in. Last year, she was in the online class for her grade and that class ranged from 30-40 kids throughout the year. She had 25 kids back in her 3rd grade class.

[erbear]

I think 20-25 is fairly standard. I once had 38 in my middle school class though. That was too many.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I picked 20-24 because that is how many are typically in a class, but I think they are capped at 30 and I think one year at least dd had 25 or 26.

[katfco]

Ds has 25
4. I have 17 at the moment, but the enrollment office is backed up. Usually I have around 24-26 in 5th grade. The elementary cap is 30.

[starburst604]

Looks like 17 kids in her first grade class. Her K class had 13 but that was a Covid measure.

[smock]

At our school, it's capped at 20 for K-1 and at 25 for 2-5. DD2 is in K this year and has ~17 in her class; DD1 is in 2nd and has 23.

[nellgirl]

My daughter is entering K and will have 20 (max allowed in K here). I teach grade 5/6/7 and will have 29 (max at those grades is 30, but it goes down for the split grades.)

[timorousbeastie]

DD has 20 in her 2nd grade class; the other classes in her grade at her school are 19 and 21 students. Other schools in the district, however, have 30 kids in each 2nd grade class.

Last year in virtual, there were anywhere from 15-38 kids (it changed as more kids went back to in person, and as they consolidated virtual classes throughout the district).

[devonpow]

DS1 is going into 4th and DS2 is going into 9th. I think the most either kid had was 22/23. Our district tries hard to keep class size 21 or under (kindergarten and 1st grade also have a full time assistant teacher). This year DS2 has 17/18 because we lost a lot of kids to private school etc with the pandemic. No clue what the high school will be.

[macmars45]

I think the kinder cap is 20. I'll find out on Monday when we meet DS' kinder teacher for the first time.

[plutosmoon]

DD's class usually hovered around 15-17. She hasn't started this year yet and we moved to a new school in the city, so I'm not sure what this year will have. She is moving from the biggest school to the smallest and there are still 2 teachers per grade, so I'm guessing the class sizes are smaller at the new school. As far as I'm aware most grades district wide have less than 20. All elementary classes have an aid as well. All elementary schools in the district are title 1.

The state is asking us to consider closing one of our 3 elementary schools since we are below capacity, they refused funding to fix the building of DD's new school because 3 elementary schools is "unsustainable" for our declining population. People are not happy. While I technically live in a city, it is a very small city in a rural area. Some schools in my area have less than 10 kids in a class because they are in towns of like 500 people.

[cjcouple]

My boys had about 18-19 in 1st.

[abs]

DD is in 5th grade and has 21 kids in her class. I believe it’s capped at 25 for 5th grade and 23 for K-4.

Ironically last year she had the biggest class ever at 23. In K-3 she had between 16-18.

[hbomdiggity]

I was talking to our neighbor and she said her twins (separated) are both in classes of 13 at the local public school. I was shocked because the school is known for overcrowding. Pre-covid classes were 24-28. She asked whether they would condense, esp if enrollment declined and the school said no because “they a bunch of fed money.”

Not sure on DS (1st) class size yet at private school. Max is 24 but they capped his class at 20 last year.

[lea]

Last year there were 18 in first grade class and 23? in 4th grade (but some were all virtual). It will probably be about the same this year. Grade 2 has five teachers and grade 5 has four.

[Jalapeñomel]

We need to make the norm less than 15 kids per class.

[katfco]

Aug 27, 2021 19:00:43 GMT -5 hbomdiggity said:

I was talking to our neighbor and she said her twins (separated) are both in classes of 13 at the local public school. I was shocked because the school is known for overcrowding. Pre-covid classes were 24-28. She asked whether they would condense, esp if enrollment declined and the school said no because “they a bunch of fed money.”

Not sure on DS (1st) class size yet at private school. Max is 24 but they capped his class at 20 last year.

From what I've heard, my principal is concerned that we might have our classes condensed after the final attendance counts in October, even getting a split grades class, because our numbers are lower than usual. If that happens, I'd be the one to leave, because, with 6 years in the district, I have the least seniority. So we're stuck with both enjoying small classes, but also having to hope we get more, because the district spends its money on top-heavy positions and not on school-level ones.