Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Karen Sprowal on how large classes caused her son to melt down

See the video of Karen Sprowal testifying at the City Council hearings on class size on Feb. 28.  Karen described how large classes in her son's public school starting in the 4th grade caused him to melt down. Now he is doing well in a private school with small classes, with tuition paid for by the city at $93,000 per year. She explains how lowering class size would not just benefit so many NYC children, but would also lead to cost savings in special education costs that are too rarely discussed or analyzed.

The expense to the city of private school placements for special needs kids is growing fast -- this year at more than  $325 million,  a direct result of the large classes in the city's schools that parents are so desperate to get their children out of.

As Karen put it, "Even as class size reduction may be costly, I would like the DOE and our elected officials to think about the costs of NOT lowering class size."
Her written testimony is below the video.



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