At a recent school district meeting, Kent teachers and parents turned out in force to support Initiative 1351, the ballot measure that will reduce K-12 class sizes in Kent public schools and across Washington.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Washington’s class sizes are 47th out of 50 states, which is unacceptable. Kent children deserve better. That’s why Kent teachers are supporting I-1351, as are many Washington superintendents, principals and PTAs.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
As a teacher of fourth-graders, I recall how many students in the class needed help with their work, but I just couldn’t get to everyone in a timely manner due to my large class sizes. This was frustrating to me but even more so to students.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
At other times, when I had a smaller class size, I was able to work more closely with my students. I was able to connect with them and build stronger relationships, which made a big difference for my students.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I-1351 will make sure Kent students get the individualized, one-on-one help they need to be successful.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The initiative provides flexibility to districts at the local level. The initiative clearly allows a district without the additional classroom space to add educators who provide direct services to students, such as:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Adding a second teacher to a classroom<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Hiring certificated staff to work as tutors<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Offering summer school programs<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Hiring additional para-educators, reading and math assistance, or other positions that work directly with students to meet their needs<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I-1351 provides an educational environment that will help all students succeed, especially in subjects like math and science. It also provides the support struggling students need.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Please join your local teachers \u2013 members of the Kent Education Association \u2014 and support smaller class sizes for our kids. Vote yes on Initiative 1351.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Cindy Prescott is president of the Kent Education Association. A Kent resident for 20 years, she has been teaching in the Kent School District for 15 years. Her four children have attended Kent schools.<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At a recent school district meeting, Kent teachers and parents turned out in force to support Initiative 1351, the ballot measure that will reduce K-12 class sizes in Kent public schools and across Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-18994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18994"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18994"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}