Letter to the Editor: Full-Class K-2 is Possible

This letter was written by Irin Israel:

All Scarsdale K-2 classes have the space to be full-class, full-time at six feet apart instead of the split-class model in which children spend half of the day with a non-teaching aide, as is currently being done. This is possible with cohorts, and while leaving 3-5 in their current hybrid model, yet positioned correctly so that when positivity rates drop, the kids can become full-time without moving a desk. There is more than enough room for K-2 to fit in all 5 schools without using most cafeterias, gyms, and auditoriums.

This choice can be enacted by swapping rooms and moving furniture/tech, while keeping all other aspects of the school day the same. A full-class K-2 model is beneficial educationally, socially, emotionally, and financially, and allows teachers to teach with their aides and to avoid teaching every lesson twice. Additionally, the District is continuing to spend money on months of deep cleaning between K-2’s AM/PM, which is unnecessary if K-2 is full-class and would significantly reduce expenditures. Teaching a full class with both teacher AND aide in the same room, as in the past, has been the optimal pedagogical choice for all our elementary schools. Has that now changed, and will that change going forward?

The District will not commit to examine this at the Dec. 7th Board Meeting, meaning that it won’t be reviewed until January. That will ensure that K-2 classes will have missed out on months of normal classroom instruction which was/is possible with this small change.

How did this happen? At the Nov. 16th BOE Meeting (timecodes 30:44 and 52:35), the District architect admitted that he ONLY used 56 sq ft per individual to calculate and place how many kids fit in every classroom in every school. Even using just 44 sq ft was refuted by David Zweig back in September (NY Magazine article). Children need 28.26 sq ft. Using 56 sq ft is a tremendous overestimate of the space wasted by built-ins/exits and doesn’t take into account that children can be closer to walls. Each room needs to be laid out individually and creatively to get the correct max capacity, but this was not done. The District architect has taken an inaccurate shortcut, leading to an incorrect conclusion that negatively affects our K-2 kids. I created a model (email me or see Facebook) that easily fits all Scarsdale K-2 in school full-time, full-class with teacher and aide, without sacrificing six feet of distancing.

It’s December and we are still using an invalid architectural analysis of our schools from the summer and our K-2 children are paying the price educationally, socially, and emotionally. We’ve also been paying the price in tax dollars by needlessly deep cleaning every elementary school every afternoon.

It is crucial that K-2 parents who want their children in full-classes speak out at the Dec. 7th Board Meeting. If I had a K-2 child, I would write the Board and Administration about this every day until this issue was openly addressed.

Irin Israel
Stratton Road
Scarsdale