Unintended consequences...

[ironthunder]

So the provincial government passed a rule that said that primary classes can't have more then 20 students in them. The class limit for Junior is 30 I think. The schools arrange the classes in June based on the projected enrollment for the fall. But things change. People move in and out of the neighborhood. People suddenly relise the missed kindergarten registration. Someone decides to put their child in the public school even though they've been in private or separate before. So at the end of September the numbers in the classes often look different from what they thought they would be. In Kate's school there are 13 children who are over the cap for their class. As a result 60 students will have to change classes next Monday. Because Kate was home sick yesterday, I don't yet know if she will be effected yet but even if she stay's put, other kids in her class will be effected. Apparently, there is no way to get extra teachers no matter how much your enrollment changes so several teachers who were expecting to be teaching a single grade will now be expected to do a split grade. I'm sure that throws a lot of their planning out the window. If I was them I'd be pissed. I'd much rather see my child in a single grade class, but I might be biased by the fact that the only split class I was ever in was one of the worst years of my education. There is a meeting at the school tonight to explain the situation to the parents and (I suspect) try to get them to complaint loudly to the School Board and Provincial Government.

Given that there is an election going on now, I encourage all my friends to consider what unintended consequences there might be from some of the policies the politicians are spouting this time out. Sure smaller class sizes sounded good on the stump, but right now, I'd much rather have my child in a stable situation then have a student or two less in her classroom.