A play date for new kindergarteners was held at Billy’s Playground at Lakelands Park before the first day of school.
Traditionally students get postcards mailed to them letting them know who their teacher will be for the coming school year. This year mailboxes were empty. Principal Lawrence Chep decided to hold off mailing out teacher assignments, instead waiting to see if Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) would allocate additional teachers to his school.
“From our original allocation we gained a kindergarten, first and second grade class,” Chep said after a successful opening day at RCES. “Half of the students in kindergarten, first and second grades would not have had the right teacher on their postcard. We didn’t think that was right to do.”
Instead, students arrived at the August 27 sneak peek event to find class lists posted by grade on the pillars outside the school. Crowds gathered at the pillars but quickly dispersed to head to their classrooms.
PTA acting president Mark Ezrin said the process caused some “anxiety” from parents and students.
“It was truly down to the 11th hour for the classes to hit the numbers to get MCPS approval. When we explained to parents what was going on, most were pretty understanding,” Ezrin said.
RCES administration had parents registering their kids up until Thursday, August 26. Chep said he even had two more students enrolled on the first day of school.
Early numbers had this year’s kindergarten class at 120 students and had the school down a classroom. To adjust, Chep moved one of the kindergarten teachers to a third grade classroom. That’s when the numbers started rolling in again, Chep said, bringing the kindergarten back to about 135 kids.
With the numbers in place, the kindergarten teacher moved back to her original classroom, leaving a gap in the third grade team. Chep filled it just a day before the sneak peek event when he offered Dena Muaket the job. Muaket, who served as a long-term substitute teacher for Rachel Lubkin last year, had just a day to get her room ready for her students.
Other new RCES teachers include Will Medina, teaching ESOL, and Chris Lyons, working as a part-time physical education teacher.
“People are happy they have a job, and they really enjoy working at Rachel Carson Elementary School,” Chep said of the last minute adjustments.
In first grade, two teachers are splitting one job, the first job-share arrangement at Rachel Carson. Mary Boerboom and Regina Ausherman are co-teachers, meaning each will teach half days.
“Both are great teachers, and I didn’t want to lose either one,” Chep said of his decision to allow the job share.
The average class size in kindergarten is 22 – 23 kids; in first grade, 23; in second grade, 23 – 24; in third grade, 25; in fourth grade, 25 – 26; and in fifth grade, 25 – 26 students. In all, enrollment totals 880 students.
Ezrin said the classroom switches threw off his organization’s ability to get the School ToolBox supplies to the student classrooms in time for the Sneak Peek event. Parents had the opportunity to preorder school supplies, which were then shipped directly to the school.
“We had the ToolBoxes, but we weren’t sure where they went,” he said.
Ezrin said the PTA at RCES continues its membership drive through October and is still in need of a president and several committee members.
“I think the economy made it harder for a number of PTAs when it comes to volunteers. I see more of my friends where one parent stayed at home before [and] that parent is going back to work full-time or part-time. That manifests sadly in the leadership and the committees,” Ezrin said.
With students settled in their correct classrooms, they faced one other major change this year to their schedule. Instead of having recess follow lunch, Chep decided to flip those two periods.
“I read research that having recess first cuts down on behavior issues and has the students more calm as they head back to class,” Chep said.
Students will be able to use any of the four hand sanitizer machines located on the playground before coming in to eat their lunch. Chep said cutting out the need to wash hands after the playground in the classroom adds about 10 minutes of instructional time to the day.