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Commentary

Another cost of overcrowding

Saturday, June 19, 2010

A teacher at a heavily overcrowded CMS school writes:

“Where I teach now we are way over capacity. Yet we continue to allow children to enroll. ‘We have to.’

“Talk about a toxic environment. We have doubled up classes (two teachers in a room) and there is NO room for movement or personalities to develop.

“I would imagine that… those schools where there is overcrowding to this degree or even near it would show little academic growth. Many times there are not even texts needed, but we cannot order any because it is not in the budget.”

The principles that initially are guiding next week’s CMS comprehensive review make neighborhood boundaries sacred. Are lines in the sand so important that the community should accept the “toxic environment” this teacher describes? Have we lost our bearings?