There's one kindergarten teacher, 38 students in this Detroit class

The kindergartners at Palmer Park Preparatory Academy were shouting out words written neatly on small cards — correctly recognizing words such as "after," "red" and "look" — when their teacher Vanessa Parnell noticed a telltale sign that it was time for a classroom potty break.

"I see some of you wiggling," said Parnell, whose University District neighborhood school is struggling with large class sizes because of teacher vacancies in the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

And when you have 38 wigglers, taking a bathroom break isn't simple. Parnell must first spend time getting her class into two lines, then the students must traipse down a long hall, up a few stairs and down another long hallway to reach the middle school bathrooms. They take this long trek because the middle school bathrooms have more stalls than the elementary bathrooms — and saving time is important when you have nearly 40 students to get through.

It's just one of the frustrations Parnell faces every day managing a crowded class at this crowded school. Here, enrollment is up more than 100 students from last year — good news after years of declines. But a combination of teacher vacancies and building problems — illustrated by the four large buckets that were collecting leaking water in the kindergarten classroom on a recent day — have made classes swell.

Parnell said she and other teachers work hard to help students thrive despite "the hurdles and outside things that impede learning," and she worries that dealing with large classes impacts that work.

"It's extremely stressful, because I don't get to spend the one-on-one time that's needed with young children," said Parnell, who doesn't have a paraprofessional to assist her.

Palmer Park isn't the only school with large classes. The teacher contract establishes class size limits. In grades K-3, the class size is supposed to range from 17-25 students. In grades 4-5, the maximum is 30. And in grades 6-12, the max is 35 students.

Across the district, 14 out of the district's 115 schools have oversize classes — many of them with multiple classes that are too large. According to fall class data provided by the district:

Nearly every K-8 class at Palmer Park is teeming with students. A third-grade class has 40 students, a sixth-grade class has 44 and a second-grade class has 39. The school's overall numbers have increased even more since fall.

An eighth-grade class at Noble Elementary-Middle School has 52 students.

A third-grade class at Bow Elementary-Middle School has 48 students. An eighth-grade class has 47 students.

A fourth-grade class at Dixon Elementary-Middle School has 49 students, while a fifth-grade class has 43 students.

A fourth-grade class at Mason Elementary has 45 students.

Meanwhile, a sweeping report on school funding in Michigan that was released last month suggested 20 as the optimal class size for children in grades K-3.

There are now 178 vacancies in the Detroit school district, down from 260 at this time last year. But it's still enough to cause problems.

Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said a large part of the problem is the district's difficulty attracting teachers, a problem exacerbated by the fact that experienced teachers often must take a pay cut in order to get hired by the district. That's because under the district's teachers' contract, teachers hired receive credit for only two years of teaching experience. That can mean a pay cut for many.

"I know teachers and parents are frustrated with class sizes. So am I," Vitti said.

The superintendent met with the board in a closed session Feb. 8 to get feedback on a plan to not only give incoming teachers more credit for their experience, but to do the same for current teachers who were hired under those rules.

Meanwhile, teacher recruitment efforts have been expanded this year. The district will hold job fairs every three to four weeks locally — including one Tuesday at Brenda Scott Academy — and will step up recruitment out-of-state. Last spring, the district attended 16 hiring fairs at universities. This year, it will attend 38. Eleven of those trips will be to historically black colleges and universities.

Ivy Bailey, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers said the effort to get teachers more credit for their experience — both new ones and those already working in the district — is important. She said many existing teachers took pay cuts to join the district and haven't had regular moves up the pay scale.

Bailey wants to ensure that those teachers are "taken care of and treated fairly."

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DPSCD teachers who have classes that go over the limits receive extra pay. Vitti said the district has increased the pot of money to compensate them from $250,000 to $500,000 for each of the two semesters.

Quivonne Bradley, whose son is a second-grader at the school, likes Palmer Park, its principal and the teachers, who, she said, "really care about the students."

But she's frustrated that her son's second-grade class has more than 40 students.

"I haven't moved my son" out of the school. But, "I have options," she said.

Her son, who's 7, asked her recently whether "he can just be homeschooled instead of being in there with all those kids."

Research on the impact of class-size reduction programs has been mixed. A 2011 analysis of the research — by researchers at the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution — found that such programs are particularly beneficial for low-income students, students in the early grades, and in programs that reduce class sizes by seven to 10 students per class. Still, some districts have imposed class limits.

'I'm not afraid of hard work'

With her students sitting on the colorful carpet on the floor and Parnell seated in a teacher's chair, attention on a recent day was focused on the interactive whiteboard that had a bunch of words from a text they were reading, including the word "glad."

Parnell first pointed to the circled "gl" letters in the word, then asked her students what sound those two consonants make when they're blended. Next came the "a," then the "d." With each sound, the students voices grew increasingly loud — reaching a crescendo when they blended all the sounds together.

It was enough to make Parnell cringe.

"Oh my God, you almost blew away my eardrums," she said, laughing. "I'm happy that you were able to say that word, but I want you to remember that we're inside."

This is what it's like with so many voices eager to show how much they've learned.

Parnell has her classroom arranged in groupings of five desks. But they're so tight that when one excited girl ran between the chairs to get to the line at the front of the classroom, she fell and hurt her arm. Two of her classmates, and Parnell, immediately came to her aid. But Parnell used the accident to drive home something she has warned the students about before.

"Do we travel between the chairs and tables?" she asked the students, who collectively chorused "No."

Parnell in 2014 earned the rigorous National Board for Professional Teaching Standards certification, which recognizes accomplished teachers. In the past, she has been a teacher mentor and has served on school improvement teams.

This is her first year at Palmer Park — a school she chose because she liked the vision Principal Shirita Hightower had for improving the school.

"I'm not afraid of hard work. I came because I wanted to be part of her vision."

But soon after she arrived, and before the school year, another teacher looked into her classroom and saw she had desks set up for 30 students.

"You don't have enough tables in here," Parnell was told. "Trust me, you're going to need more."

Parnell didn't believe it. Until the kids came. And came.

Wonda Miller, a math teacher, has 46 desks set up in her classroom, which serves students in the sixth and seventh grades. There is little room to move around. She can't get to her classroom closet because it's blocked by desks. And she wonders what she'll do if she gets one more student.

"It's hard because you feel closed in, caged in," Miller said.

Hightower, in her second year as the school's principal, has a long history with the school. She grew up in the neighborhood and attended the school when it was called Hampton. Her mother, a former principal in the district, still lives nearby and often volunteers at the school.

"It's part of the passion I have for what I'm doing," Hightower said.

Few of the school's 558 students live in the neighborhood. That's why Hightower spends so much time reaching out to the school's surrounding community, which she said had become disenfranchised.

"You want them to send their child to a neighborhood school," she said. "That's the only goal I have is to make this a premiere choice."

She said many of the neighborhood families have been wary of the school because it has had academic struggles. Many send their children to a nearby private school or to charter schools.

She has had what she calls "vision" sessions from people in the University District neighborhood, as well as the surrounding Green Acres and Sherwood Forest neighborhoods. Some of those residents volunteer at the school.

The class size problems have been challenging, Hightower said, but teachers work hard to overcome them.

"This is a fantastic and dedicated staff," Hightower said. "They continue to support me as I support them, even with the oversize classes. We're making the best out of the situation."

But frustration is creeping up. "They're tired, which is why I'm very proud of them. Even though they're tired, they keep coming day after day."

Small steps to improve conditions

Parnell took her concerns to the top on Jan. 9, attending a meeting of the Detroit Board of Education and begging district officials to visit her school to see what teachers are dealing with. She asked them to cap the enrollment at the school, since there is only one classroom per grade level in K-5.

And she implored them to address the building's poor conditions, which have resulted in water leaking from the ceiling of her classroom and many others. Because of the leaky ceiling, she no longer has a sink in her classroom, which means she and her students must travel to the cafeteria for breakfast, while other teachers are able to serve breakfast in their classrooms and keep learning going.

On Jan. 17, Vitti and Angelique Peterson-Mayberry — the board's vice president — took Parnell up on her invitation, visiting the school and seeing the conditions for themselves.

"The concerns regarding class size were evident during the visit," Vitti said.

Parnell said that soon after the visit, contractors visited the school.

"I appreciated that he's true to his word," she said of Vitti.

The building has an abundance of space to expand, but a large section of the building —the second floor — can't be used because the old roof is leaking and needs to be replaced.

The board announced at a meeting last week that the roof will be replaced this spring.

And there has been movement on another front: The district has given Hightower the OK to hire three more teachers to relieve some of the crowding. But she knows it won't be an easy task.

"I'm willing to work for it," Hightower said. "I have totally bought into doing whatever I need to do for my children."

Contact Lori Higgins: 313-222-6651, lhiggins@freepress.com or @LoriAHiggins

Hiring fair for Detroit schools

The Detroit Public Schools Community District is holding a hiring fair from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Brenda Scott Academy, 18440 Hoover. Can't make it but interested in a job? Go to www.detroitk12.org/employment and fill out an application.