Your Name address, Seattle, WA
206-xxx-xxxx or xxx@xx.com
November xx, 2014
Kim Whitworth, Executive Director of Schools, NE Region
Dear Ms Whitworth,
I am a parent at the Green Lake Elementary School (GLES) and am writing to request your assistance to address unacceptable class sizes in our school’s MAGIC program that serve the intermediate (3-5) grades. Our school’s PTA has worked closely with our Principal, Joanne Bowers, to find out what can work best given our current situation. It is difficult to resolve in a sustainable way without disrupting other classrooms in our school. We have looked at many options with stakeholders (teachers, parents, administration) within our school community. We have implemented some strategies to address this including using PTA funding to increase hours for an existing part-time teacher to assist in oversized classrooms. Because the district has not yet provided funding to address this problem and due to PTA funding limitations, we still have an unacceptable condition. We need the district to provide modest but critical funding. More is explained more below. I join our school PTA to request immediate emergency funding for a .5 certified teacher.
Our class sizes have risen to 32 students per intermediate grade. We have 4 intermediate classes and each one has
32 students. There is a real possibility that these numbers could increase as the year goes on due to the affect of two option school: John Stanford and McDonald which force a number of families into GLES, thus increasing our numbers. Any student with learning differences, families who do not desire foreign language immersion and students moving into the neighborhood after 1 st grade are all ineligible to attend MacDonald School and/or
JSIS. The only other school in this large neighborhood cluster is our school. Green Lake Elementary had an unexpected and disproportionate shift into our intermediate grades this past year. At the beginning of the school year, we saw movement of students out of Green Lake in grades K and 1 st to McDonald and John Stanford because these are desirable immersion programs. By the same token, we saw unexpected numbers in grades 3-5 move into Greenlake from children moving into the area or from children that could not be accommodated in and option schools due to circumstances noted above.
Addressing the imbalance in our school is not easy. In any other program, the children could be redistributed to even out the class sizes. However, because we have been using a blended age model, redistribution would mean moving children around in classes all the way from first through fifth grade. Our blended class model, the MAGIC program, has been an asset for our children in past years. It has allowed us to utilize peer models and to stabilize teaching and class sizes from year to year. MAGIC was created to solve the issues we had with our classroom sizes given the opening of
McDonald, reducing our boundary and then now increasing it. Until now, MAGIC has allowed us to handle the changes in classroom sizes in a fluid manner. Unfortunately this year, it has paralyzed our ability to adapt to enrollment changes. Our principal, staff, and PTA had already acted with the resources they have but we need the district’s engagement to fully address this problem. To date, our PTA feels that narrowly interpreted administrative definitions regarding enrollment counts and associated funding have actually hindered rather than helped our school’s current situation. Your authorization of a 50% Certificated Instructor will provide Push In Literacy Instruction. Specifically, this person would aid the teachers in the following manner by facilitating:
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 Strategy groups (flexible grouping) for reading & writing
 Leveled spelling groups
 Read naturally groups for underperforming students
 LLI for underperforming students
 Additional ongoing assessment for overloaded classrooms
 Reteaching students in need, while teacher moves forward with curriculum
 Helping accommodate student testing needs
 Study hall reading groups
Without your help, our students and teachers will continue to suffer.
Tracy Tavis, Green Lake PTA Co-President will follow up with you in the next few days to address any questions to get this resolved.. She is also in direct conversation with Principal Joanne Bowers on these matters. With your approval, our school community is ready to immediately act. We look forward to working with you to resolve this critical issue for our school’s learning environment.
Sincerely,
Insert your name
CC: Sherry Carr, School Director, District II, Seattle School Board
Principal Joanne Bowers, Green Lake Elementary School, jbowers@seattleschools.org
Michael Tolley, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning
Dr. Larry Nyland, Interim Superintendent, Seattle Public Schools
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