Parents of Roseville High School students received a phone call home on August 20 informing them of the administration’s continuing attempts to reduce class sizes. Class sizes have been higher than normal this year due to an influx of late-registered students and a decrease in the number of staff members RHS is permitted to have as a result of budget constraints.

     The process of reducing class sizes throughout RHS has resulted in the closure of several classes in order to make room for classes with a higher demand. For example, a CP chemistry class was collapsed so there would be room for a larger CP biology class.

     Junior Jake Planer was one of the students that had their schedule modified to accommodate the changes in the school’s master schedule.

     “I’m annoyed because my lunch was switched,” said Planer, whose 4^th period class was collapsed, resulting in a switch with his schedule that subsequently affected his lunch.

     The schedule changes came out about two weeks into the school year, meaning they affected already established classes.

     Students who have had their schedules altered were either put into the same class but with a different teacher, or were forced to take an entirely new course. Senior Myles Johnson was enrolled in speech and debate, which was cut to make room for other English classes, and has mixed feelings about the administration’s actions.

     “It was my last chance to take the class, so I find it unfair,” said Johnson. “But if it was to help even out the student-teacher ratio across the school, then that’s fine.”

     Over the summer, the staffing ratio of RHS was increased from 27:1 to 27.5:1, meaning that fewer teachers were available per student, translating into an increase in class sizes.

     The master schedule was created by the administration over the summer, before about 100 students registered late to attend RHS. Thus, these students weren’t accounted for in the schedule, creating unforeseen increases in already larger class sizes.

     The administration also hired a new math teacher, David Ansbro, and allowed some teachers who previously worked part time to work full time in order to open more classes. A total of nine new classes were added as a result of these actions, including new English 9 and 10 classes as well as Algebra 1. The addition of these new classes allowed the administration to transfer students from large classes into smaller ones, thus balancing and lowering overall class sizes.

     English teacher Amy Mowrer, who taught a speech and debate class before it was collapsed, supports the actions of RHS administration.

     “I appreciate the administration’s attempts to reduce class sizes,” said Mowrer. “I was sad that speech and debate was cut, but it is pretty unethical to have a class with only 12 students when you have core academic classes that are in the mid-40s.”