A New York State mandate was passed decreeing high school classes procedurally shrink down to 25 students per classroom. As such Thomas A Edison is making plans to accommodate a smaller classroom.
Earlier this year TAEHS requested money for seven new teachers due to availability shortage as well as new renovations for “dual use” classrooms, shop classrooms that are no longer utilized after CTE teachers complete their contractual periods. These “dual use” classrooms will be changed to accommodate a CTE learning environment as well as the NYCPS learning curriculum.
“The city came up with funds that we could apply for in some time by December, which we did, and we met the qualifications. So we are getting the monies. And of it, a portion, is to renovate some of the classrooms to make them dual use shops and a regular class. I don’t remember which of the classrooms were. And then also to hire seven new teachers, and I believe to have 18 six-period-classes; which in other words, a teacher just teaches five periods normally, but they can be paid to teach a sixth class, so that gives us flexibility in scheduling,” Mr. Kenneth Sultana further explained.
Despite this motion to hire new teachers it seems that there will be no changes to current teaching staff or their contracts in order to give the school flexibility in scheduling.
“… you would not lessen the amount of time, because the students have to have a certain number of hours. You’re not going to be, you know, cutting teachers out or classes out. I mean, what are the teachers going to do then? You can’t really do that, right? It’s not a that’s a viable option,” Sultana said.
It is possible for TAEHS to change its schedule to three sessions instead of the two session schedule the school has now. This could result in students entering the building past 10am and leaving the building closer to 4pm. While TAEHS has had a history of having a three session schedule, ultimately it is not optimal and not likely to be implemented into the future.
“A third session, because we don’t have that many, extra rooms, I don’t foresee a third session being viable, because you’re still going to have all the students with a several period overlap,” Sultana said.
Furthermore, “So knowing the three session of third session, we’ve had a third session in the past, but we’ve also started at 7:10am, in the morning. So I don’t know, I don’t know again, if this is, if this is very viable, we have to look at the numbers,” Sultana said.
Like many other schools in New York State, the UFT expects TAEHS to implement these changes by 20% progression every year till it becomes a classroom of 25. By 2028 all high school classrooms should have fully implemented the mandate.
