When a parent sends their child off to school, they picture little Johnny sitting in a desk near the front of the room, raising his hand in answer to questions posed by a teacher who knows him well – well enough to know how many sisters and brothers he has, well enough to know if Johnny looks tired or is wearing his favorite baseball jersey.

Sunday, September 19, 1999

When a parent sends their child off to school, they picture little Johnny sitting in a desk near the front of the room, raising his hand in answer to questions posed by a teacher who knows him well – well enough to know how many sisters and brothers he has, well enough to know if Johnny looks tired or is wearing his favorite baseball jersey.

What they don’t picture is Johnny sitting in in the middle of the room – in the eighth or ninth row of desks, peering through his glasses to see the board, and a teacher who has to check the seating assignment plan to make sure he calls the right name when Johnny’s hand goes up.

All around the nation, class sizes are a concern. It’s good to see Austin’s public schools responding to that concern. Class sizes are on the same level as in 1994 – low 20s in grade school, middle 20s in high school. They had been projected to spiral up to close to 30 per class in the lower grades and possibly up to 39 per class in the high school. Instead, the largest science classes at the high school have 33, and there are only two of those.

Students deserve individual attention from teachers who not only instruct a room but interact with a person. They need interaction with the only adults they may see for the majority of their waking day. They need someone who has the time to address their individual problems with long division and cursive writing, with chemistry and physics.

Austin public schools continue to demonstrate a concern for the needs of our students, and to uphold the ideals parents prefer for their children.