Trying to Crack the Code.

This has always been a touchy subject, but every year around this time families seem so anxious about the school year ahead. Parents who have been with us, still wonder who their child's teacher will be next year.

 Ms.Scott begins organizing the number of classes needed to create each grade in the late spring, along with who will teach each class. She must take into account which teachers are leaving or retiring, how many academic intervention teachers are needed, and how to serve every special needs student. Add to that, teacher preferences* and how many new teachers to hire, to round out the daunting task of organization.  The final report card offers you only an ATS** code to indicate what class your child will enter in September.

So, how are students placed?

From kindergarten on, as the year comes to a close, teachers fill out 'Pinks and Blues'. As you can assess, pink represents girls, blue for boys. These forms offer reading and math levels, as well as teacher comments and overall impressions of the student's strengths and weaknesses. Ms. Scott then tries to place the student with the teacher that will provide him/her with the proper support and guidance. The colors (pink,blue) come into play when building the class; the idea would be to balance the boy/girl ratio as best possible.

The teachers are in a heated race to finish paperwork and complete final report cards. At this time, a teacher does their best to describe each student's best placement scenario, without knowing who of their colleagues are slotted to teach the following grade. They may also have to consider which students will not move to the next grade. This struggle includes looking for progress during the year by gathering the student portfolio of work, and of course, talking to those families to come to the appropriate conclusion for the sake of their child's education.

Carolyn Ramirez, our Pupil Accounting Secretary, makes sure student numbers do not exceed the cap number per class (25 in K, 32: 1st - 5th) and still make sure there is a balanced boy/girl ratio. As the numbers grow in each new class, some room must be left for new incoming zoned students on each grade. Every year this number grows. During summer months, 'walk-ins' come from other schools, every state and many countries as well. Families may come to register for the first time with 3 children.

In the summer months, a hiring committee of teachers comes together to interview, with the intent to hire new teachers. Every resume is carefully considered, not just for experience and educational credits, but to see who will be a great addition to our community. The process is taken very seriously. For instance, A new teacher with no prior classroom experience would not be hired to teach a testing grade. Personally, I think Ms. Scott has great intuition in this area. There have been terrific hires during her tenure. However, it doesn't end there. For 10 yrs. I have been witness to this process. I am the last person to leave in the summer, usually mid August (customer service, walk-ins, last letters to go out, answering phones). When I return in the beginning of  September, there are always new teachers hired in the last 2 weeks before school. Teachers get married and move away, or few may decide not to return from maternity leave. Surprise!

So in the end, it is best to write in a class code on the final report card for the following school year. When you return in September, you may see an old teacher or a new teacher or even a teacher who you know, but never expected to teach that grade. Throughout a child's school career they will encounter teachers that they like and don't like, some who are no nonsense, some who may be more effective than others. This is the case in any school. You may not be able to make the choices for them. They must learn to navigate different circumstances and still succeed. In Middle School and beyond this will be the expectation.
For that reason, classroom and teacher assignments remain one of life's great mysteries...until September 9th, that is.

*  Every year, teachers choose 3 different teaching assignments for the following year, in order of their preference. Every other year, one of those choices must be granted.

** An  internal accounting system used throughout the DOE .