I find it hard to believe that a KHSD literacy class has nearly 50 students. If a class is that full, maybe it's an honors class and the teacher didn't want to turn any students away. Most English classes are below 40 student. Sometimes at the beginning of the school year class sizes are a little off, so schedules have to be changed to even out the class size.

However, please continue to investigate the rumor of incredibly large class sizes. If there are  that many students in a room, schedules should be changed.

Class sizes are up across the board and the teachers I know are beside themselves to teach.  I wonder what the fire code says about a classroom with 50 students in it... 

By trying to economize we have compromised quality beyond acceptable levels in education.

Again, we spend more to kill people in other countries than we do on the welfare of our citizenry.

I think this would make for a great investegative report. 

Let's all say it together- JV Sports rule! We don't need no stinking teachers.

How many teachers could the district hire for half a million?

Most classrooms at my school are not too bad. In fact, my average class size is lower than normal. It will probably increase after christmas, though. We are definitely doing more with less, but things are tough all over. I'm sure the elementary classrooms are being hit harder than high school. They have so many little projects they do, it's just too expensive now.

Class sizes are up on the whole in KHSD from what I hear, though down in some isolated instances. Part of the reason for the unevenness is the board's reluctance to change boundaries to balance enrollment at various schools. Fifty students in a literacy class is absurd. I used to be an English teacher and the National Council of Teachers of English consistently recommended class sizes of no more than 20. Of course, we never got sizes that low, even then. But it's really impossible to give the detailed attention and feedback students need to learn how to write well when you have 50 students per class. In a county with high poverty and illiteracy and a very low college grad rate, that's really unconscionable.

Money for Sports over classroom instruction is unconscionable and it's a case of the tail wagging the dog.  The unquestioned belief that extra curricular activities are so vital to the detriment of a school having an adequate amount of teachers is a sad commentary on society, as a whole.  We are getting what we bargained for.

High School English-- 1st period: 41 students, 2nd period: 42 students, 3rd period: 41 students, 5th period: 37 students, 6th period: 36 students.  Average: 39.4 students per class in a room with 41 desks.  Welcome to my world!

Luckilly for you, you teach in Kern County and the odds are that some of them will drop out and you'll have a smaller classroom.

Ironically, I found this sad article on SI-

http://sportsillustrated.cn...

What do you do with that extra person in 2nd period dlollar67? 42 people but only 41 desks... sounds like a horrible variation of musical chairs.

I've not yet had perfect attendance.  When the day comes, the last student will sit in my desk.  I'm always up and moving anyway, so it'll work out.

According to a senior I know at Frontier...his largest class is an econ class with about 50 students. He said more tables were brought in and they are literally wall to wall. He also said there are not enough lockers for everyone...so no seniors have lockers although they are allowed to share with a lower class level.