Calculating "average class size": Why is my K son in a class of 29?

This is in regards to FLORIDA. (Forgot I wasn't in a FL specific group)

Question: I've been searching the FLDOE website trying to find this information, but I haven't found the clarity I seek. I know the max number of students PK-3 should be 18, but I also know that is based on average class size. Is each individual school in a district required to have an 18 or below average for that subset or is it that subset within the district as a whole? Also, are there any special circumstances in which schools can get around that target average?

Background and More: I work at a school, and my son, an ESE kindergartener, who is in a gen ed classroom (very social, should be fine to be on track academically, but does have an IEP) attends the same school. His original class had 20 students. School started on August 10. Somewhere between August 16 and 21, his teacher was moved to a different grade. (Frankly, a relief.) I don't know the exact date because my son and I were out the 17th and 18th due to illness. I know he was split into his new class on the 16th, but the original teacher was out that day, so I thought it was just for the day. We came to school on the 21st, and his new teacher just happened to catch me and let me know he was in her class now. I have had no official communication from the school regarding this change. I emailed the teacher and tried to find out if there had been a letter regarding the split that perhaps we missed because we were out, but there was not. His online account shows TBA for teacher. His current teacher has confirmed that they hope to hire a new teacher soon, at which point, all of these kids will be sucked back out and with their THIRD teacher of the year. His current teacher has 23 students on her roster, but with the extra kids, there are actually 29 students in her class.

She caught me at the end of the day, the other day, to let me know he had a very rough day and may benefit from a smaller class size, which yeah, but self-contained isn't the spot for him either! He may do fine if he had a normal sized class!

Also, the people who wrote the IEP told me certain things would be in it, and it seemed like they were when we went over it, but upon re-reading when the school year started, there were some important things left out of the final copy. Our school's ESE chair said it was horribly written. He and our ESE zone coordinator agreed it needed to be completely re-written, essentially. The person who scheduled the meeting told me it would take 15 minutes tops, so the school won't have to worry about covering my position while I attend the meeting. He's supposed to get OT at school, but our school hasn't even hired anyone yet, so they sent someone out, on Friday, just to get data for his IEP meeting.

And that doesn't even touch on how badly things are going in the room I am support in! I'm about to say, "Who needs to eat? I'll just quit and homeschool!"

Uhhh...anyway, things are a mess, so the original question was at the top, but if anyone wants to offer any advice or resources regarding anything, go for it. Thank you.

Submitted September 03, 2023 at 08:41AM by shakywheel https://ift.tt/FUPW9it