Board speeds some class size cuts
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on February 27, 2018 5:50 AM
The Wayne County Board of Education voted to quickly reduce class sizes at five low-performing elementary schools -- without plans on how to fund it -- at its meeting Monday night, a decision which one board member called politically motivated but others hailed as long overdue action.
The vote came during a discussion on the results of the board's Student Assignment Committee meeting Feb. 8, which included a recommendation that schools be considered "appropriately populated" if they are between 90 and 105 percent full. Board member Raymond Smith said that low-performing schools in Wayne County have a high prevalence of lateral entry teachers, who are not typically licensed, and that the board needed to focus on prioritizing assigning certified teachers to low-performing elementary schools.
Smith then made a motion that the board implement the class size restrictions originally mandated by the General Assembly in House Bill 90 -- a maximum of 18 students per class in kindergarten, 16 in first grade, and 17 in second and third grades -- at the five low-performing elementary schools by the start of the 2018-2019 school year. The motion also included prioritizing those schools when placing licensed teachers.
The five low-performing elementary schools in Wayne County Public Schools are Brogden Primary, Carver Elementary, Carver Heights Elementary, Eastern Wayne Elementary and Spring Creek Elementary.
After several procedural votes to add the motion to the agenda, board member Jennifer Strickland raised concerns about the fast-paced nature of the proposal. With no indication that Wayne County Public Schools has the money to complete the project, and no information about where else the money to lower the class sizes would come from, Strickland said that ordering school staff to figure out how to accomplish class size reductions by the next school year was more political grandstanding than responsible governance.
"This is a sad attempt by the members of the [Student Assignment] committee who are running for re-election to get the paper to run a headline saying they're the only ones doing anything about this," she said. "This should not be political."
The committee is made up of board members Smith, Richard Pridgen and Len Henderson. Pridgen is up for re-election to the board this year, while Smith has filed for the N.C. House of Representatives District 21 seat now held by the retiring Larry Bell. Strickland and board member Chris West are also up for re-election.
Smith denied the idea that the motion had any political underpinnings. Rather, he said, it is simply time to do something about an issue which has been looming over the board for months. Smith called on the Wayne County Board of Commissioners to commit to funding the project.
"I don't understand how we as a Board of Education can sit here and not take an action which would benefit our low-performing schools, he said.
"We've got to do something. We talk and talk and talk, it's time to do something," he said. "We had the joint meeting with the commissioners, and they had a lot to say about education. Let's see if they're willing to put their money where their mouth is."
Pridgen said that in order to meet the class size mandates -- which have now been stretched out over four years in House Bill 90 -- the district needs to get a head start by addressing the lowest performing elementary schools. That way, he said, WCPS could have a better idea of how to redistrict the entire county ahead of time.
The board ultimately passed the motion five votes to two, with Strickland and West casting the dissenting votes. Strickland said she agreed that low-performing schools need to be addressed, but could not in good conscience vote for the motion without any information on if WCPS could actually implement it in the given time frame.
Responding to NAACP representative Keith Copeland, who called the vote "courageous," Strickland disagreed.
"I do not believe it is an act of courage to make a decision without knowing the cost. Not just money, but the cost in people. There was just not enough information here for me to support this," she said. "There was nothing in here about asking for the extra dollars, being told no, and then reevaluating."
The board will need to add funds for new teachers and possibly new classroom space to its budget request, due to be presented to the commissioners in May.