Due to a lack of computers at Central High School and a large class, Jessica Henson writes her senior paper as other students in her 12th grade English class use computers. Her class consists of 33 students, but the library provides only 20 computers.
Staff Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free PressCentral High School senior Amber Forester remembers having only about 20 students in her freshman English class.
Back then, she got more of the one-on-one time with her teacher that she prefers and there were fewer distractions.
Now enrolled in 12th-grade English, Forester, 17, shares her teacher with 32 other students. On a recent day in the library, there were only enough computers for about half of her classmates to work on their research papers, so Forester sat at a table with a friend, writing out her paper by hand.
Like many English and math classes at Central High School, English 12 is closing in on 35 students – the maximum number the state allows for a high school class. After several years of losing one to three teachers a year because of budget cuts while enrollment rose, classes at Central have gotten larger, Principal Finley King said.
“It’s hard to address individual students’ needs when you’ve got that many kids; the larger the classes, the less personalization you have,” King said. “We’re having to do more with less.”