3 grades, 1 teacher: Waterloo school board says it's necessary, but a mother raises concerns

A Waterloo, Ont., mother says she's concerned about split grades sharing one classroom at her son's school in hopes it begins a larger conversation surrounding Ontario's education system. 

Daryl Morris has a son in Grade 5 French immersion at Sandowne Public School in Waterloo. 

She said at the beginning of the school year, his class was expected to be a combination of Grade 5/6, which wasn't a surprise to her family. 

"He's been in a split class basically the entire time he's been in school there. It is a bit of a smaller school," Morris explained. 

But on Oct. 7, Morris says some families at the school received a notice that Grade 4 students would also be added to the class the following week because a French teacher having to leave the school due to annual reorganization.

"What they decided to do was collapse the Grade 4 French immersion class and move some of those students in with the Grade 3s, creating a 3/4 split and then they moved five of them up into our 5/6 split," she said.

With the additional students, Morris' son's class now has 25 children from three different grades. Morris says the move felt short sighted given how quickly it happened with no prior consultation.

"It just feels like there's less time for the teachers to give each kid the attention they might need," she said. 

"Not to mention for the teachers to have them now have to add another grade level curriculum to what they've already determined they would be doing for the year."

Split class model

Although navigating three grades in one classroom isn't common practice within Waterloo Regional District School Board (WRDSB) schools, two grades happens often. 

Jeff Pelich is president of the Elementary Teacher's Federation of Ontario Waterloo Region and says it's because reorganization happens every year to accommodate student enrolment across the board. 

"Internally, there were probably about 54 schools that had to reorganize in some way, either by losing a teacher or by organizing and shuffling students," explained Pelich. 

He added that in a typical year, only five to 10 teachers would be affected and have to make a move. 

"This year we had 28. That's a sign that there's a problem in our board and we need to take a look at it to figure out what's going on."

In an emailed statement to CBC News, WRDSB's associate director Scott Miller said shuffling happens every year following enrolment assessments as per the Ministry of Education requirements.

"All school boards do this to ensure we are compliant with ministry directions, guidelines and timelines. It also supports us to ensure we keep in mind student's needs as well as our fiscal responsibilities," the statement reads in part. 

"We are confident that WRDSB staff will continue to work hard to ensure that all students feel welcome and a sense of belonging at school and in their classrooms."

Ontario's Minister of Education is Jill Dunlop. Dunlop's spokesperson Edyta McKay said in an email to CBC News that the ministry supports school boards "by providing the framework, funding and flexibility needed to meet class size requirements for all grades across the province."

"As is the case every year, school boards may reorganize classes after the start of the school year to reflect student enrolment; however, this should be conducted with as little disruption to student learning," McKay wrote.

A new classroom reality?

Morris said after the change happened in her son's class, she reached out to WRDSB, school trustees, the director of education and Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife. 

A week later, she heard from a school board representative who sent her messaging from external school boards highlighting the benefits of what they call "family classes." 

"When I read the information, a lot of it is prefaced with, 'When thoughtfully and carefully implemented, this can lead to greater success.' To me, there's nothing thoughtful or careful about this. You reorganized mid-October," said Morris. 

While the Sandowne class remains one of the only with three grades in it locally, if this were to become more common or a new model the school board is moving towards, Pelich said his union would take issue. 

"We will do everything in our power to prevent that from occurring. It's not good practice and anybody that says that it is good practice, hasn't been in the classroom in a very, very, very long time."

Fife, who is also the NDP's finance and treasury board critic at Queen's Park, echoed that sentiment.

"I would invite the minister of education to visit a classroom, a public school, to see how flawed the funding formula is in the application of those resources. In this particular case, it's the students who are getting less of their teacher's attention as that teacher tries to cover expected material for three separate grades," said Fife. 

"What's happening here at Queen's Park is not translating in reality for students and for educators in our schools and I believe strongly that this is a government that does not truly appreciate the value of public education or educators."

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The Morning Edition - K-W6:41Waterloo mother concerned three grades are sharing one classroom

A classroom shuffle is leaving students with more bodies but less dedicated time from their teacher. Sandowne Public School now has three grades in one class after a sudden, yet final decision.

The future of education

As for Morris, she says her family is still deciding what happens next year for her son as it's possible he would be part of the three-split classroom for another year.

"What's done is done this year, it can't change at this point. Also, it would just be disruptive again," she said.

She adds it's extremely upsetting because there was no previous communication from the board that this could be a possibility. 

"I don't think any parent with kids in schools thinks that this is a possibility within our region."

Meanwhile, Pelich says the bigger story is why so many people were involved in reorganization this year. 

"Particularly when [the board] is faced with budgetary constraints and declining enrolment, we need to take a look at what's happening and have some honest conversations about a way forward," he said.