Parents at Aiken, Braeburn, Bugbee, Duffy, Morley, and Norfeldt schools better wake up fast.
On the list of potential cuts are two that would create havoc for countless families and drastically reduce the education at each of the schools.
One proposal is to eliminate full-day kindergarten at each of the six schools, to save $713,750. There would still be half-day kindergarten there, but that’s not nearly as effective educationally and is obviously a greater burden on many working families.
In addition, those same six schools face the possibility of seeing their average class sizes rise by four students in each grade, which means some upper grade teachers could have 29 kids in the room instead of a maximum of 25. In the lower grades, the increase is from 23 to 27.
Anybody who’s read anything about educational achievement knows that smaller class sizes are crucial. At 27, the classes are nearly twice as big as they should be. That would be a body blow to West Hartford’s students — and to our reputation.
Parents — and others, of course — should be screaming that such a thing is even on the agenda.
The West Hartford Blog 