Dear School Committee:

This petition is regarding our concern of the overcrowded 4th grade classes at Northwest Elementary School and the negative impact this issue is having on our children, the classrooms, and the teachers.

We are very concerned about the quality of education an elementary student can receive in a class of 28 or more students. Many children go home and talk about their frustration because their needs aren’t being met. The higher achieving students should not have to use their time to teach other students who can’t get the attention they need from the teacher. This causes more distraction in an already overloaded environment.

Our children also tell us of the teachers’ frustrations. We've heard of dramatic changes in classroom dynamics (decreased noise levels and distractions, etc) when small groups of children are out of the classroom for activities such as chorus. How can a teacher evaluate a student’s learning, checking for strengths and weaknesses, and making sure each student is not struggling when they are constantly addressing overwhelmed students?

Every student has the right to the attention and support they need which is difficult under normal circumstances. While great paras and support staff float into classrooms with the highest needs, this is not enough to provide the needed level of support for our students or our teachers. As class sizes grow, distractions and noise levels grow. When the class size reaches a certain point, we are setting our teachers and students up to fail. The demands of each student cannot be met no matter how great our teachers, paras, and support staff are. And, we do have great teachers and staff and amazing students at Northwest who don’t deserve to fail. We need to set them up for success, so we are requesting the School Committee immediately address the overcrowded 4th grade classrooms at Northwest Elementary and work with the school administration to add an additional classroom. We would like to see the school continue to provide the excellent education we’ve come to expect for our children and a positive experience at this age is vital for their continued educational success.