Kindergarten Classes In City Are Bursting At the Seams (NY)

January 10, 2011

Kindergarten classes in the city are the biggest they’ve been in more than a decade – and some parents say their kids are paying the price.

There are 7,616 kindergarten students learning in classrooms with more than 25 children, up from 5,414 last year – a 40% increase – according to preliminary Education Department statistics.

A handful even have an average of 30 or more children in each kindergarten class, such as Public School 298 in Oceanhill-Brownsville in Brooklyn.

"The teachers are good here, but my kid’s not getting the attention she needs," said Kenneth Sampson, whose daughter Briana, 6, learns alongside 29 other children at the school, where only 19% of kids are reading and performing math at grade level.

"I think there’s not enough commitment to it. They gotta get it right so the children can learn properly," Sampson said. "These are very smart kids. They want to learn."

Kindergarten class size began dropping in 1999 and leveled off in 2002 when Mayor Bloomber g took office. This year, the average class size is 22.3, up from 20.9 just two years ago. The size limit for kindergartens set in the teachers’ contract is 25 kids.

Additionally, class size in first through third grade overall is the highest it’s been in 10 years, statistics show.

"Class-size reduction in the early grades is one of the very few reforms that has been shown to narrow the achievement gap between ethnic and economic groups," said Leonie Haimson of Class Size Matters. "This is really tragic."

In 2007, the city agreed to reduce class size in exchange for state money. Kindergarten through third-grade classes were supposed to be capped at 20 students by next year, but as budgets have been slashed and state aid reduced, class size has risen.

"We remain committed to minimizing the growth of class size in all schools," said Education Department spokeswoman Barbara Morgan, "and given the current economic realities, we’re working with the state to focus on a subset of schools where there is the greatest need."

Brenda Stallings, whose son Kenneth is in kindergarten at PS123 in Harlem, likes the school but is concerned about the impact of overcrowding.

The school reports 27 kids in its kindergarten classes, but Stallings, a member of the school’s leadership team, says there are 30. Kindergartners have to eat lunch at 10:15 a.m. because multiple schools share the cafeteria.

Stallings says her third-grader son, Stephen, was already reading when he was in kindergarten – and had 17 children in his class at PS 124 in Queens.

"How will they learn how to read like this?" the home health aide said. "We try explaining it’s a problem, but I guess nobody’s listening."