Slightly more than a month into the school year, Richmond Public Schools may move teachers from one elementary school to ease crowding at other schools in the district.
RPS is considering reassigning four K-3 teachers from John B. Cary Elementary, where enrollment is lower than expected, to other elementary schools in the division where classes are too crowded, says Kenita Bowers, a spokesperson for the school district. The school division prefers to have no more than 19 students in a classroom, and currently has 25 or 26 in some elementary schools, she adds.
“We appreciate the flexibility and understanding of our teachers who may be reassigned in this process as we continue working collaboratively to support the needs of all of our students,” Bowers wrote in an email.
Some parents at the elementary school are not pleased with the timing of the proposed teacher reassignments.
“All the kids in K-3 are going to be affected by this negatively,” says Michelle Stuckey, a Cary parent. “It’s kind of an unnecessary upheaval one month into the school year.”
The administration could not have decided sooner, Bowers says, because the district needed to use its final enrollment numbers to determine where fewer – or additional – teachers were needed. Final enrollment figures were due to the state at the end of September.
Bowers could not say as of press time whether the division was planning to reassign more teachers.
Stuckey found out about the shuffling from the school’s parent teacher association Facebook page. “Other than that, we haven’t received any communication from the school about this … We were never notified whatsoever,” Stuckey says.
She fears her first-grader’s teacher may be reassigned. “Our son came home and said the day after tomorrow that his teacher won’t be his teacher anymore. That’s very upsetting coming from a 1st grader.”
A parent meeting is scheduled at Cary on Wednesday at 5:30 to discuss the decision.