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Montgomery teacher urges board to restore a fifth‑grade section amid high referrals and large class sizes
Summary
A Montgomery fifth‑grade teacher told the board that the incoming fifth‑grade cohort has 52 students and substantially higher behavioral referrals than the prior year, and asked the district to rehire an expected third section rather than leave two overcrowded classrooms.
During the open‑forum public comment period, a Montgomery fifth‑grade teacher who identified herself as Tanya asked the board to keep a third fifth‑grade teaching position that was budgeted for the coming year. "Our incoming fifth grade numbers are at 52," Tanya said, adding that last year’s cohort had 54 students and that behavior referrals for the incoming group were markedly higher (she cited 84 referrals for last year’s fifth graders and about 155 for the incoming cohort).
Tanya said the incoming group has higher academic and behavioral needs and that reducing to two sections would make it difficult for teachers to build relationships and meet students’ needs. She said the position had been in the budget and a teacher resigned and the district was told it would not be rehiring that slot; she asked the board to honor the earlier plan to have three fifth‑grade sections "for the kids." The speaker requested transparency on how the decision not to rehire was made and emphasized teacher workload and retention concerns.
Board members acknowledged the concern during later budget discussion and asked administration to consider staffing allocations, compensatory funding, and direct‑certification processes when reviewing class‑size and staffing decisions. Administration indicated the district will monitor enrollment and staffing and noted the finance review process to align staffing with enrollment and assigned funds.
Next steps: Board and administration will take public comment into account as they finalize staffing after audit and enrollment confirmations; finance and human resources will review available assigned funds and staffing priorities.
