8/28/24 Newsletter: Class Size and Student Behavior
Student Behavior and Classroom Management
We’ve been sharing information (part 1)(part 2) about the concerns around student behavior and have observed a lack of solutions from admin. We are concerned that a lot of administrators are not hearing the concerns and are instead making the situation worse by undermining the staff who are contributing solutions.
The district appears to have rolled out a “Teacher Suspension” option on the attendance codes. We will ask admin for clarity. At this point, it’s not clear when it can be used, how it will be used, what it does to the student’s attendance, and who’s allowed to use it. The truth is that under the law, teachers are already allowed to remove a student from their classroom, so-called “teacher suspension,” regardless of what attendance codes are available.
Important Note: We know that suspending a student from school can have a long-term detrimental impact on their academic success and that there are better ways to support a student’s growth. We also know that it isn’t easy for students to learn in a classroom that is disrupted by significant behavior issues. A teacher suspension is not the same as a suspension from school – it removes a student from the classroom to receive support in a more appropriate location at school. It’s important to try alternative interventions before removing a student from a classroom, but we all know there are clear examples of situations where a teacher should be supported in moving significantly disruptive students out of the classroom.
We have asked the district to have a conversation with us on this issue. So far we have not met, but when we do, we intend to make it an open and transparent conversation.
Under a union contract, teachers would have the right to negotiate these policy changes before they go into effect. We wouldn’t just know the information, we would have been part of the decision.
Let us know if you’ve attempted to remove a severely disruptive student from your class and been denied by admin. This is a violation of the law. Send an email to
What is Going On with Class Sizes?
Almost everyone is impacted by classes bursting at the seams this year. Even TK! So let’s review:
In California, public school class sizes are largely left to local decision-making, with a few exceptions:
- Transitional Kindergarten (TK) has a strict cap of 24 on each class, and a mandatory ratio of 1:12 adults to students in each class. That means each TK class over 12 students needs two adults, one of whom must be a teacher.
- K-3 Grade Span Adjustment rule: As we’ve reported before, The Grade Span Adjustment rule sets the class sizes for K-3 classrooms at 1:24 statewide, but gives local districts freedom to negotiate alternative class sizes with their teachers. In Clovis, the Faculty Senate signed off on an agreement to allow classes to reach 1:28 but few people knew about this agreement when it was originally made.
- Other limits apply, but the most common caps are negotiated in a union contract. Other districts with similar funding levels have negotiated class size caps and stipends for overages.
Fill out our Class Size Survey
The only real way to control class sizes in Clovis is to unionize with a strong, independent, and competent union driven by Clovis educators and supported by Education experts and statewide resources. That’s why we’re inviting all CUSD educators to sign the ACE petition and allow us to move forward with a union contract to address these issues. Request a petition here.