PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Enrollment is up at Philadelphia High School for Girls this year, but students say classes are overcrowded because the district hasn’t provided enough teachers to match the increase.
Chanting “staff our school,” more than 100 students from Girls’ High took their complaints to the Philadelphia School Board Thursday night.
Last year’s ninth-grade class was about 200 students. This year, thanks to the recruiting of principal KaTiedra Argro, it’s closer to 300. Students told the school board that the district hasn’t hired enough teachers to meet the extra enrollment, so some classes have more than 50 students.
The teachers contract limits class sizes to 33.
Sophomore Olivia Fowler said her African American history class is way over capacity.
“Eleven kids do not have seats. They’re sitting on the couch. They’re sitting on chairs in the back. They’re sitting on the floor,” she said. “It’s crazy.”
“Every day I want to leave that classroom because it’s too hot, it’s too crowded, and I get easily overstimulated,” added ninth-grader Zahara Pitts.
Deputy Superintendent Brenda Elliott said the district didn’t expect this year’s enrollment surge at Girls’ High.
Students argued the district had early enrollment numbers in April and should have seen this coming.
“The challenge is, when we don’t anticipate that number, we have to then add staff after the school year and re-roster students,” Elliott said.
The district is adding one, perhaps two, teachers, she said, and rearranging student rosters in the coming days.
Students told the school board that there aren’t enough teachers to match the increase
Students told the school board that there aren’t enough teachers to match the increase
