Class Size

Re "Role of Class Size in Success Unclear," Feb. 5: Go ahead and debate the value of class-size reduction, but the fact remains that California's schools have the most students per teacher in the nation. I teach upper elementary school and have had 30 to 36 students every year for 25 years. It should be obvious that having fewer students results in more personal and effective teaching and learning. Instead of considering increasing class size even more, we should be asking why California won't fund and staff schools at least at the national average.

PHILADELPHIA - Making a rare inner-city campaign stop, Mitt Romney preached the merits of traditional, two-parent families and touted his platform of educational choice at a West Philadelphia charter school. The Republican presidential candidate had little political reason during the primaries to visit heavily Democratic neighborhoods such as Carroll Park. And his initial foray as the likely GOP nominee had more to do with outreach to suburban moderates than to African Americans, who are likely to give President Obama almost universal support.

The kid in the back wants me to define "logic. " The girl next to him looks bewildered. The boy in front of me dutifully takes notes even though he has severe auditory processing issues and doesn't understand a word I'm saying. Eight kids forgot their essays, but one has a good excuse because she had another epileptic seizure last night. The shy, quiet girl next to me hasn't done homework for weeks, ever since she was jumped by a knife-wielding gangbanger as she walked to school. The boy next to her is asleep with his head on the desk because he works nights at a factory to support his family.

The kid in the back wants me to define "logic. " The girl next to him looks bewildered. The boy in front of me dutifully takes notes even though he has severe auditory processing issues and doesn't understand a word I'm saying. Eight kids forgot their essays, but one has a good excuse because she had another epileptic seizure last night. The shy, quiet girl next to me hasn't done homework for weeks, ever since she was jumped by a knife-wielding gangbanger as she walked to school. The boy next to her is asleep with his head on the desk because he works nights at a factory to support his family.

I do not hear public education addressing the most important issue: smaller class size. Has no one spoken to parents who put their children into private school? The issue is class size. More classrooms, more teachers, more interaction, more Internet. Standardized testing will only tell us what we already know--that public education is in trouble. In our era, when science is literally our planet's foundation and future, it is abhorrent to offer science classes with 43 students in each class.

Re "Small Classes Help More Than Latest Computers," Ventura County Perspective, Oct. 3. Alicia Reynolds should be in charge of all education for Ventura County. When she runs for office I will walk precincts for her and even send money. Of course the key is class size. It has always been class size and always will be. All the studies have shown that with reduced class size you get better test scores, higher graduation rates, less truancy and students who can read and write. The real question is why haven't those in charge seen this?

Gov. Deukmejian said, "Ever since I've been governor, I've been getting nothing but complaints about class size." Perhaps if the governor had to work effectively with 35-40 other employees sharing his office, he would reconsider his priorities and realize class size in our public schools is an extremely important issue that must be dealt with now! BARBARA JAFFE Los Angeles

Edward P. Lazear's "Smaller Class Size Isn't a Magic Bullet" (Commentary, Sept. 2) correctly summarizes the problems that schools have experienced when they make class-size reduction a higher priority than other educational reforms. However, Lazear erroneously states that congressional Republicans have "followed suit" on President Clinton's "100,000 new teachers" plan. He writes that the Teacher Empowerment Act would "require local school districts to spend a portion of the federal booty on reducing class size."

Even by Beverly Hills standards, the idea is rich: Raise $1 million in one week to bail out a tiny public school system that is thriving but still lacks immunity from the financial ills plaguing California's schools. The fundraiser, which kicked off Monday, is meant to spare Beverly Hills Unified about two dozen layoffs. So far, Beverly Hills has been able to maintain class sizes of 20 in the early grades and 29 in the upper grade levels; neighboring behemoth L.A. Unified, which has laid off thousands and is poised to lay off thousands more, passed a budget that calls for 30 students per class in the lower grades and numbers that move sharply upward from there.

Sitting in the library during a break, two veteran teachers at Edwin Markham Middle School rattled off the names of principals who had been sent to fix the chronically low-performing school in Watts. There was Kimbell, Miller, Norris and Borges. Then came Mir-Rivera, Miyahara, Stroud, Sullivan. This year, Hernandez arrived ? the ninth in 20 years. Each came with a long list of remedies, they said, and most left after a few years with little to show for it. For those two decades, Markham has been considered one of the worst middle schools in California,  despite the best efforts of those principals and an army of well-intentioned reformers, including big-hearted volunteers, private foundations, corporate sponsors, the city attorney's office and ?

Los Angeles teachers union members have ratified a deal to shorten the school calendar this and next year, officials announced Saturday. Nearly 80% of United Teachers Los Angeles members who cast ballots approved of the deal, which could save the Los Angeles Unified School District up to $140 million, save the jobs of about 2,100 employees and maintain class sizes. Under the agreement, which was negotiated over several months, teachers would take an unpaid day off the Friday before Memorial Day and schools would close four days earlier for summer vacation.

Los Angeles school district officials and employee unions announced an agreement Saturday to cut five days from this school year and seven days next year in an effort to maintain up to 2,100 campus jobs. If approved by members of the teachers and administrators unions, the move would save the Los Angeles Unified School District about $140 million and preserve class sizes in grade and middle schools, officials said. The district, the second largest in the nation, is facing a $640-million deficit.

Los Angeles voters will be asked in June to approve a temporary $100-per-parcel annual tax to help fund city schools, but Supt. Ramon C. Cortines warned Tuesday that the increase still would not be enough to head off bigger class sizes, teacher layoffs and, possibly, a shorter school year. Facing a projected $640-million budget shortfall, officials said the parcel tax would yield $95.2 million annually for the four years it would be in effect. The school board needed to act quickly, Cortines said, so the money could offset some cutbacks for the upcoming school year.

"Sometimes they don't see how things are." -- Handwritten student posting on a bulletin board at Locke High School, explaining why the media don't always tell the truth about inner-city schools It requires a second or even a third look at Locke High School to discern the changes this fall, one year after it was taken over by charter operator Green Dot Public Schools. The uniforms are still an ensemble of chinos and polo shirts. The teenagers still gather in the quad for lunch.

Re "Some L.A. classrooms bursting at the seams," Sept. 20 The situation is even worse than the public is led to believe because some districts compute so-called average class size by dividing the number of students on a campus by the number of credentialed instructors on the campus. Many of those credentialed personnel are not actually classroom teachers. John Rossmann Tustin -- Despite the state's budget crisis, the educational bureaucrats still fail to recognize that more on-campus teachers are needed to help reduce class size.