Another area you really need to get volunteers to examine is technology solutions.

Years ago, I saw a video about Alaska schools. They have many small villages that are cut off during parts of the year due to snow and blizzards. The villages were too small too support much of a school, so parents were faced with sending their children to boarding school or just managing at home.

At some point, they decided to move to videoconferencing. The towns were equipped and linked, and the children attended classes this way. They didn't spend the whole day in front of the camera, but supplemented what the local teacher could do. It was very successful.

These days, with online classes, web conferencing, distance learning, videoconferencing there are even more options. And it's probably a great area for grants.

It may seem foreign and scary. But it CAN be done. Parents and school officials could research ideas and funding. Other schools will willingly share information. It would just take some time.

I know your situation is elementary ed, but here's a link to a virtual high school that's been in the news. ( www.govhs.org/website.nsf )

(By the way, Tim, this might be a great article. To see how schools are implementing distance learning technologies and how the parent groups might be drawn in to help.)

Since it looks like you are probably stuck with this situation, the best bet might be to see what you as parents, the PTO, and the community can do to help. If it can't be changed, everyone needs to accept the situation and contribute to making the envrionment as successful as possible.

Suggestions might be:

1) Do everything you can to support the teachers, both emotionally and in practical ways. This has got to be rough on them as well. You want every possible moment of their time focused on lesson planning and student interaction. (Be supportive - not interfering.)

2) Organize volunteers to supplement the teacher. This might be daytime volunteers who can help in the classroom, evening volunteers that could do jobs like photocopying, laminating, organizing supplies.

3) You might get some volunteers to start examining grants. Maybe you could get some special funding to hire some assistants. Note - I'm suggesting the volunteers do the legwork for the school, not that the money goes through the PTO.

4) Help parents understand that they, too, are going to have to do double duty. They really need to stay on top of what their children are learning, what help they need, what home activities can supplement. Maybe you could start some after-school clubs in math and science to expand those areas.

5) Help parents understand that they need to be prepared not only to help their own students, but others who might not get ideal home support.

6) Research on how other schools are handling this and how to make it successful.

7) Understand that this is a community issue, not just something that affects the families with kids. Once you've established some strategies, encourage your local paper to run articles on how everyone can help. Address local social, professional organizations to recruit assistance.

I certainly understand your concerns and think you have some real work ahead of you. However, if you can organize the right attitude and get your community to pitch in, it might actually be a richer educational experience for your children.

Please keep us posted.

[ 07-18-2002: Message edited by: JHB ]</p>

Hi! I also am faced with combined classes this year. 3&4 will be in the same room with one teacher, 5&6 will be in one room with one teacher and 7&8 also will be in one room with one teacher. Our school is a K-8 rural school with approz. 100 students. I am at a loss as what to do. My 8 year old will be with my 10 year old in the same room. How can they both get the help they need when they are at such a different level? We are also down to a nurse coming to the school one half day a month! The teachers are not even CPR trained!!

Those are some of my concerns. My daughters class of 14 are all very bright. They are a teachers dream. Due to this they HAVE to be challenged. My daughter will be in the 6th grade and she also scores high school level for reading etc. We will see what happens to her class this year. Thanks for the information.

We have a population of 525 students with K thru 6. For some reason - I have yet to completely understand - our teachers want the split classes for the 4th/5th grade students. They had it 2 years ago, and then fought like crazy to keep it. With a year off, and then again they got it back last year. It was a huge deal at first with parents showing up to complain at a big parents meeting. Now I think parents are getting more used to it because I haven't heard as many complaints. My daughter is going into 4th grade and we have already been told there will be 4/5 split classes. We currently have 93 students moving from 3rd into fourth and the 4th into 5th grade class has approx. 65 students. There will be 5 teachers. All of whom will have a 4/5 split class. They say it helps in preparing for testing, challenges the kids, etc. My daughter tests at a 9th grade reading/comp level and a 9th grade math level so I am not that worried for this coming year. However, how do they keep the 5th grade students challenged and stil not leave any 4th grade kids behind?? I guess I will have to wait and see what it is like... :confused:

Sorry about the type/spelling errors! I should have looked my post over first. Thanks again.