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Peak season

NORTH Vancouver's Lisa Pennington takes five at the top of Grouse Mountain's Peak Chair during a sunny day of spring skiing.

Indeed, parents of

From page &

that category West Vancouver ranks 72nd.

In intermediate classes, the average class size in West Vancouver is 28.6 while the . provincial average is 27.8, putting West Vancouver in a tie for 72nd place, said the - WVIA.

Krieger said some sec- ondary teachers must teach more than 200 students. That _ makes keeping up with stu- dents’ marking, parent con- tacts and students’ sociai and emotional needs difficult.

Krieger added that teach-

streaming of special-needs

students that started in the late’ 1980s. Because special- needs students necd more heip and resources, one would think class sizes would have decreased since then, he said. Instead they have increased, said Krieger.

He said the teachers bring up the class-size issue at bud- get time every year, but noth- ing has been done so far. Still, with the district facing a $1 million deficit for the next fis- cal year, he remains opti- mistic.

“Pm hopeful because this year our brief was supported by parents,” he said.

Gleneagles elementary told the board there is no room for more students in the class- rooms. They added all Gleneagles classes have 30 or 31 students except two.

“In crowded classrooms, teachers spend more time on classroom behavior and man- agement issues than on cur- riculum delivery thereby con- tibuting to the compromise of education. We as parents are watching this with great concern,” said the Gleneagles Parent Advisory Committee.

The WVTA made a num- ber of other recommenda- tions to the board in its bud-

ers agree with the main-

Special needs, ESL students | add to classroom demands

From page 4

Now, most actual instruction is done in pri- mary grades with children gathered around the er, she said. That means a five- to 10- minute job of moving furniture in the class eight times a day.

“I would say we are wasting haif an hour a day just moving furniture, aud that’s in a five- hour day,” she said.

She added she has two special needs stu- dents who receive help outside the class for 80 minutes a week. The two require an extra set of instructions and more monitoring while in her class.

The two ESL children in the class also require specific help and instruction.

In addition, behavioral problems are more prevalent today, she said. Teachers feel as if they are social workers, counselors and substitute parents.

Computer instruction adds to the workload.

Report cards take up to one-and-a-half hours te ~~rite. She must write 30 of them three times a ¢ear, but does not get class time to do

it.

She said she works 60 to 70 hours a week now.

“There are too many expectations right now. Too much work. Having said all that, I wouldn’t do anything else.”

She added that if she has a child with a math problem and wants to spend time with that child, what can she do with the 29 others?

“They are not old enough to work indepen- dently,” she said. “So I don’t feel I can meet the needs of all the children in my classroom no matter how hard I try. There are just too many kids. It’s very frustrating for me.”

With fewer students, helping the children with problems is casicr, she said.

In addition, she said the increase in class size is a major reason for the increase in teacher ill- ness this year.

get brief:

W@ return coordinators to sec- ondary schools and the ele- mentary program;

B Increase the budget for learning resources;

Gi Increase support for stu- dents with special needs;

or challenges dominate

SB Reduce allocation: of. B eources to school-based

administration in elementary © -

and secondary schools.

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