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Schools

Backers size up teaching dispute

Meet class-size requirements without counting co-teachers, the state says. But already a lawsuit is being drafted against the ruling.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published November 13, 2005

TAMPA - Fifty-two second-graders and three teachers share adjoining classrooms at overcrowded McKitrick Elementary School in northwest Hillsborough County.

They sometimes spill into the hallway for lessons. No one seems to mind.

The students like having three teachers instead of one. The teachers like being able to work more closely with children who need individual attention and to share resources and ideas.

While crowding has forced this large group into close quarters, principal Lisa Yost flatly rejects the notion that putting two or more teachers in the same classroom is an attempt to subvert the state's class-size reduction laws.

"If we thought it was a bad thing for children, it would not be happening," Yost said. "We think it is a very good option as a teaching tool."

State education officials do not disagree, even as they move to prohibit "co-teaching" as a way to ease class size requirements set by voters in 2002.

"I personally am engaged with special-needs kids. I have my own," said state Board of Education chairman Phil Handy. "Co-teaching not only works, but it is an imperative in certain situations. We fervently believe co-teaching is a legitimate and effective way to teach."

But voters did not intend to shrink class sizes by having large numbers of children in a classroom with several teachers, Handy said. So barring a change, school districts have until August to figure out other ways to meet the class-size requirements.

That's plenty of time to prepare, he said.

Not so, say educators in many Florida counties. They want a reprieve.

Seminole County schools superintendent Bill Vogel has asked Florida education commissioner John Winn to gradually phase out co-teaching over three years. Meanwhile, school districts will take other steps to meet class-size requirements.

"Co-teaching wouldn't be a permanent solution to the calculation," said Vogel, speaking for a coalition of school districts that includes Hillsborough and Orange counties. "We need the funding to provide the facilities that are going to be necessary. And the commissioner has recommended a $1.9-billion increase."

But even if districts had the money today, they could not build schools fast enough to eliminate co-teaching by next fall, Vogel said. Florida has more than 8,000 co-teaching classrooms, according to state and local records, including about 1,200 in Hillsborough, 375 in Pinellas and 790 in Pasco.

If schools are using co-teaching to cheat class-size requirements, the state should deal with them individually, not through a blanket rule that almost certainly can't be met, said David Mosrie, executive director of the Florida Association of District School Superintendents.

"Anybody who looks at it objectively realizes it's not the districts that haven't fulfilled their obligations," Mosrie said.

Winn has signaled a willingness to talk: "He's sympathetic and is willing to keep an open mind and have an open dialogue," said Jennifer Fennell, Winn's spokeswoman.

Vogel sounded confident that a resolution could be reached without seeking help from the courts. But another player, Florida School Boards Association executive director Wayne Blanton, isn't so sure. That group has lawyers drafting a lawsuit against the co-teaching ruling.

The law does not bar co-teaching, Blanton says, so neither should the bureaucracy.

"I had lunch with the commissioner, and I did not get the feeling that he was willing to delay enough items to make it matter," Blanton said.

Lawmakers don't offer much hope, either.

Rep. Shelley Vana, D-West Palm Beach, has filed a bill that would allow co-teaching to count toward meeting class-size rules. But House Republicans insist the class-size amendment requires one teacher per classroom.

"To me, this is just another example of why we don't need rigid mandates in the Constitution," said Rep. John Stargel, chairman of the committee that hears many education innovation bills.

He agreed that local districts should decide how best to meet class-size rules. But the Constitution is specific, he said, and school district officials must make hard choices to meet the mandate.

If people don't like it, Stargel said, they should make the rules more flexible.

Kim Jones, one of the three McKitrick teachers sharing two classrooms, won't state her position on the legalities of the class-size amendment. But she doesn't hesitate to commend co-teaching.

"We can do more enrichment for high achievers, and those who need remediation get one-on-one and small groups," Jones said.

It's beneficial for teachers, too, said Daisy Casiano, one of Jones' co-teachers. They can share instructional ideas and, just as rewarding, not have to sit isolated from other adults all day long.

"The only downfall I see is, we see each other more hours than we see our husbands," Casiano said. "But we get along so well, we're like family."

Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 13, 2005, 03:17:20]