A fourth-grade class has been without a permanent teacher for a month, and one mother worries about the impact.
By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published November 16, 2003
MADEIRA BEACH - Trish Brown, a mother of twin fourth-graders, sat through two hours of School Board discussion Tuesday waiting for her turn to speak.
Finally, she got the floor. Why, she asked the board members, had her son Anthony's class at Madeira Beach Elementary School been without a permanent teacher for a month?
Brown quickly sketched the details. The situation began in mid October when parents received a letter from Madeira Beach Elementary principal Donna Arnott. Because of overcrowding, Arnott wrote, a combination class of fourth- and fifth-graders was being created.
Kristina Gleaton, Anthony's fourth-grade teacher, would take charge of the new class. Another teacher would be hired to replace her. In the meantime, a substitute would teach Anthony and his classmates.
Several substitutes were brought in to teach Anthony's class from Oct. 15, when the new class started, until the end of the month when the woman Arnott hired as a permanent teacher came on board.
The new teacher stayed only one day. She worked Oct. 31, a Friday, and did not return Monday morning.
Arnott sent a letter to parents informing them that the new teacher had quit for personal reasons and that once again, substitutes would be teaching the fourth-grade class. Then the next day, she told them a decision had been made to place the school's Title I facilitator - a well-qualified teacher - in the classroom for the time being.
Although Brown is happy with the instructor currently teaching her son, she told board members the chain of events has left her with several concerns.
First, she wonders why a new class was created more than two months into the school year. Second, she worries about the lack of continuity in Anthony's class. Perhaps most upsetting to her is what she perceives as a lack of instruction in the class that was "left behind."
In a phone interview Tuesday, Brown said that her son has been upset since the day he learned he was losing his teacher.
"He was just mad as heck," Brown said.
With a string of substitutes, she said, Anthony had received little instruction. She considers herself in a good position to judge because Anthony's twin sister, Catherine, is in another fourth-grade class at the school.
While Catherine's teacher has continued to send updates via the child's daily planner, Anthony's planner has been blank, Brown said. And while Catherine's teacher has continued to assign homework, Anthony has been given none.
"Catherine is progressing through the school year," she said. "Anthony has just stopped."
Arnott, the principal, disagrees that Anthony's class has suffered.
"There hasn't been that level of bonding, but there has been the same level of instruction," she said. "There wasn't a day when there were no plans for the students. We have maintained the curriculum throughout."
Arnott said she made the decision to transfer Gleaton to ensure that an experienced teacher was in charge of the new class. Children were chosen for the new class based on their ability to work independently.
She explained that she had no qualms about leaving Gleaton's former class in the hands of substitutes because the district has a pool of qualified individuals who are willing to teach on a temporary basis.
The only thing that has been out of the ordinary, she said, is that the teacher she hired as a permanent replacement for Gleaton worked only one day.
Area III superintendent Cathy Athanson agreed that creating a combination class to ease overcrowding is not uncommon.
In a perfect situation, an overflow of children would come from one grade level. But at Madeira Beach, there were about a dozen too many children in fourth grade and another extra dozen in fifth grade, which necessitated the creation of the mixed class.
The fact that the class was created more than two months into the school year was unfortunate, but unavoidable, said Carol Thomas, the district's supervisor of curriculum and instruction.
The decision came in response to voters' approval last year of an amendment that caps the number of students in public school classrooms to 18 children in prekindergarten through third grade, 22 in fourth through eighth grade and 25 in high school grades.
The limits do not have to be in place until 2010, but Pinellas has begun moving toward implementation, Thomas said.
"The new unit at Madeira Beach was created in direct response to lowering the pupil-teacher ratio per the class size reduction amendment," Thomas said. "It's happening all over the state."
Three other Pinellas elementary schools received additional teacher units at the same time, she said. In all cases, the new classes had to be up and running by Oct. 16 because that was the date the state chose to review districts' compliance.
"It was a mixed blessing," Thomas said, explaining that although the additional units have eased class size, they also have resulted in a certain amount of disruption.
Arnott seems as eager as Brown for a smooth transition at Madeira Beach. She has interviewed four teachers since Nov. 4 and has a dozen more interviews scheduled.
"I do understand the parents' concern, but I would ask them for a little time and trust," she said.
While Brown anticipates a swift resolution to the problem, she waits for a response from School Board members.
"As far as the parents are concerned, this is still unacceptable," she said. "This class has been treated like second-class citizens."
- Times staff writer Thomas C. Tobin contributed to this report.
