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Schools

Crofton Schools Finding Room for the Classroom Boom

Parents and students are seeing the impact of increasing class sizes.

School enrollment numbers are booming in Anne Arundel County. Between August 16 and Sept. 12, the school system enrolled 521 students in Kindergarten alone, said Bob Mosier, public information officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

Kindergarten enrollment typically begins in April. While there are always some last minute kindergarten enrollments, it’s usually somewhere between 100-200 students, Mosier said.

When asked what was causing the enrollment surge, Mosier said, “I just don’t know. If it was BRAC, one would think the enrollment surge would be just on the western edge of the county, but we’re seeing a surge across the county,” he said.

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“We’ve had an increase of more than 3,000 students in the last three years, and we’ve added no general fund positions,” Mosier said. We’ve converted administration positions to classroom positions,” he elaborated.

The increase in class size is happening across schools. At Crofton Elementary School, parent Maria Brooks has not been happy with her daughter’s class size for the past few years. Her daughter Savannah is now in second grade and has 27 students in her class. Savannah also had 27 students in her first grade class. In first grade, the room was so small that you could barely walk around because of the number of desks, Brooks said. At least this year the room is larger, she said.

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With that number of children, there is a constant disruption, Brooks said. Someone always has to go to the bathroom, blow their nose, or even ask for help with school work, she said. It’s very difficult to give someone individual attention and the children really need it in these early years of school, she said.

The teachers are very positive, but you can tell that it’s overwhelming, Brooks said.

At Arundel High School, the smallest class in the building is Chinese, with 20 students enrolled, Principal Sharon Stratton told a group of parents at a coffee with the principal meeting. Some classes have 30 to 35 students, she said.

In the second week of September, 15 new out-of-area students registered at Arundel, said Kathleen Richburg, guidance counselor at the school. “I think BRAC is contributing to the increasing enrollment,” Richburg said. The economy is also a factor – many people are moving in with family members, she said.

Richburg, with support from the Navy Family Liaison, has started a student-to-student ambassador program to help incoming students feel welcome and help with the transition. The program was developed for military families, but is intended to help all new transferring students.

Arundel parent Rajo Joshee, who owns a Subway restaurant near Baltimore Washington International Airport, recently sponsored a “Fun, Facts, and Food” session for approximately 150 students so they could become more familiar and more comfortable with the school and its student body.

“It’s important for the students to feel like they know someone and have someone to talk to,” Richburg said. Right now, the group has no money to support activities, but does plan to do some fundraising,” Richburg said.

Not having enough money to support students is a concern for many associated with Anne Arundel County Public Schools. Mosier said parents who are concerned about class sizes and budget issues should raise concerns to the county council. “When we’re in the middle of our budget season and we say we’re $12 million below maintenance of effort funding, that’s when parents need to step up and speak to their county council representative,” Mosier said.

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