Paterson's schools have hundreds of overcrowded classrooms. This is why
PATERSON — About 545 classes in the city's public schools exceed state limits on student size, a problem local education officials attribute to fiscal constraints, rising enrollment, inadequate buildings and a shortage of teachers.
Eastside High School has the greatest number of overcrowded classes, with 200, according to a district report on class sizes as of Oct. 18. That includes 41 social studies classes at Eastside that exceed state limits, 39 science classes, 25 world language classes and 24 in math, the report shows.
Six of the district’s 10 high schools and 30 of 37 elementary schools have overcrowded classes, according to the report. The total number of overcrowded high school classes is 324, and there are 220 in city elementary schools. Paterson is New Jersey’s third-largest school district.
“The overcrowding puts our kids at a disadvantage, especially the kids who are underperforming, and we have too many kids who are underperforming,” said Rosie Grant, head of the Paterson Education Fund advocacy group.
The Paterson Board of Education voted on Wednesday to apply to the executive county superintendent of schools for a waiver of the state class size regulations.
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“At this time we cannot adhere to classroom size requirements specified in the regulation,” said the resolution. “The district is asking that this waiver be approved until the district can hire instructional staff to comply with the Administrative Code.”
The school board spent a few minutes discussing the waiver, an action that officials said has become routine as the Paterson district grapples with a chronic overcrowding problem, year after year.
“It’s unfortunately a practice that we had to do in the past as well,” said Board of Education President Kenneth Simmons, “but for the most part it is a facilities issue.”
Veteran school board member Jonathan Hodges said the district needs to hold the state’s “feet to the fire” for not providing Paterson with adequate school buildings to prevent overcrowding. Grant, from the education fund, noted that a landmark New Jersey Supreme Court decision obligated the state to provide schools in low-income communities.
“We shouldn’t have to ask for a waiver,” Grant said. “We should have the facilities we need so we don’t have overcrowding.”
Paterson Public Schools falls under state class-size regulations for districts with more than 40% of their students deemed “at risk.” For such districts, the state code says grades kindergarten through three may not exceed 21 students. For grades four and five, the limit is 23 students, and for grades six through 12, it’s 24 students.
There are eight elementary schools with 10 or more classes that exceed the state limit, including Don Bosco Academy with 24, School 16 with 22 and School 5 with 18. The district report said 16 of the overcrowded classes at School 5 and 10 of the overcrowded classes at School 16 were for grades K through two.
Paterson’s student test scores are among the lowest in New Jersey, and the district has spent millions of dollars on intervention program to improve academic performance. The district’s current $798 million budget estimated Paterson’s enrollment at 27,196 students.
As of mid-September, the district had 135 teaching vacancies, a shortage so severe that city education officials this year offered $7,500 signing bonuses for educators who took jobs in Paterson.
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press.
Email: editor@patersonpress.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Hundreds of Paterson NJ classrooms are overcrowded
