Call Class-Size Reduction Key
Teachers: Mike Misses Mark

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

Teachers may not all share the same opinion of Mayor Bloomberg's plans to dramatically reshape education here, but there is one topic on which they agree: size matters.

NOT LIVING THEIR REALITY: Several Teachers contend that Mayor Bloomberg's blueprint for improving the schools is oblivious to the realities that they confront in their classrooms. 'He and Joel Klein need to spend a week inside a school and then tell me what they think,' said one veteran instructor.

Interviews with city Teachers last week indicated that many are frustrated with the Mayor's moves to reorganize the school system and believe that he and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein are fundamentally unaware of the daily demands of teaching. But even those who are willing to give Mr. Bloomberg a chance say that reducing class size is the one reform that would most improve their ability to teach effectively, and it is starkly missing from the Mayor's list of reforms.

'Not Even Discussed'

"With all these proposals, it's hard to believe that there's no real discussion about class size," said Allan Vincent, who teaches environmental science at Lehman High School in The Bronx. "It's just intuitive. Fewer kids, more individualized attention."

A spokeswoman from the Department of Education said decreasing class size is part of the city's overall plan. "Reducing class size is a priority," said Melody Meyer. "We have reduced class size at every grade level."

Many Teachers expressed a profound distrust of the administration and said they were discouraged that the reforms seemed disconnected from the reality of the classroom.

"What the Mayor needs to do is to try to live the life of a Teacher," said Judith Higgins, who teaches reading and literacy at PS 149 in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn and has been a Teacher for 16 years. "Not in the cushy schools, but where I am. He and Joel Klein need to spend a week inside a school and then tell me what they think."

Call Changes Confusing

CAN'T SEE THE FOREST: Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, according to some Teachers, has let his efforts to restrict tenure obscure the problems Teachers encounter when overcrowding makes it difficult to control their classes.

That sense of distrust permeated even the comments of the significant number of Teachers who said they were having trouble teasing out the details of the plans. Many said they had been unable to get a firm grip on what the changes would look like in practice.

In mid-January, Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Klein laid out a list of steps that would reorganize the way the schools are supervised, how Teachers would be evaluated for tenure, and fundamentally shift how schools are funded.

While many Teachers were aware that a significant amount of money was being pumped into the system, in particular by Governor Spitzer, there was suspicion about where it would land.

"It gives us hope to see that the Governor sees the need to invest in schools," said Rodrick Ruddie Daley, who teaches Spanish at IS 285 in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, "but it doesn't give us hope that the Mayor's going to be the one spending it."

If Mr. Bloomberg's and Mr. Spitzer's budget proposals pass, the city would receive an additional $1.17 billion in state and city education funding for the coming school year. In four years, the annual increase would reach $5.39 billion.

A few Teachers said they understood the concern about how granting tenure too easily could lead to keeping those who were not performing up to par.

'Need Protection, But ...'

"There are some outstanding Teachers and some not-so-outstanding ones," said John Marvul, who is a lead Teacher at Offsite Education Services, a high school program for at-risk kids, and has taught in the system for six years after a successful career in business. "There has to be some protection, but it's not good for anyone to have bad Teachers."

But many Teachers said the tenure debate was a distraction from confronting the fact that it is often Teachers' working conditions, such as overcrowding and the disciplinary problems that can bring, that make it difficult to teach effectively.

Most felt similarly skeptical about the structural re-organization, which would dismantle the 14 supervising regions that were set up three years ago.

"I personally feel it's a really bad idea," said Irene Shapiro, a science Teacher at PS 151 in Woodside, Queens. "It's very demoralizing. It's like you're never standing firm. We were just getting used to the last system."

Some Teachers said they would wait to see what happened before making a judgement, but even they came back to a similar theme.

'Need New Schools'

"Words are words but we need to see action," said Geovanti Steward, who teaches math at MS 447 in downtown Brooklyn. "It's a lot of money, but what we need are new schools so we can reduce class size."

But many Teachers said that they saw the changes as a tacit admission that the last reorganization was unsuccessful. They said they experienced the changes as something that was happening to them, carried out by a bureaucracy over which they have no control and which did not seem interested in their opinions. And many don't trust Mr. Bloomberg, Mr. Klein or their staffs, who more than a few Teachers pointed out had never taught a class.

"We respect the views of our Teachers," said Ms. Meyer. "We hope that they will judge this administration on its merits."

But many Teachers said they did not feel respected.

"What does he know about this neighborhood? The type of students we have?" asked Mr. Daley. "Maybe it's time for them to start talking to educators who work in the schools. We are not just a business that can be restructured every time the stock price changes."