Teachers are struggling to handle crowded classrooms as over-enrolled classes at Garfield mark a difficult beginning to the year. AP English Literature, AP Art, and AP Statistics are especially over-crowded, causing some classes to contain more than the typical policy of 32 students per class. While in some cases this has been resolved, other classes remain packed to the brim.
Over-enrollment has become an expected phenomenon for some teachers. “I’ve been over my limit [of students] for years and years so it’s not like this is suddenly happening.” AP Literature teacher Kristin Harris said. When Anita West, Garfield’s AP Art teacher, has smaller classes, she said she can “give [students] more attention” and “can get a lot more in-depth and do more complex things.” However, small class sizes are often unattainable. “[We] have no power about the size of our classes, and… take the students we are given,” Harris said.
Over-enrollment seems to be a frequent occurrence. West has taught at Garfield for ten years, and she said, “After being here that long I know that the first couple of weeks is a little bit confusing because of the changes in scheduling, so I just expect that.” Counselors have leveled out some classes since the beginning of the school year, but others, such as AP Literature, remain over-enrolled. “It’s gotten worse since school started, I’ve definitely had students added [to classes] since school started,” Harris said. The largest AP Literature class this year has 39 students.
As Garfield enters its 6th week of the new school year, teachers have adapted to larger class sizes in various ways. West has extended the hours she is available to students by arriving at school earlier. “A lot of teachers do that. They just make themselves available,” she said. As well as extending office hours, teachers have attempted to lessen grading loads by turning individual assignments into group projects. Even still, it may take teachers longer to return assignments than usual. “At some point I have to grade those 150 essays, so I hope students will be a little more patient about how long it takes to get [them] back,” Harris said.
