3 FEATURE
OPINION
GENDER POLARIZATION IN POLITICS
THE VOL. 59, NO. 8
9 CENTERSPREAD
SENIOR STORYBOOK
DHTH TERRARIUMS
20
10-11 GRAPHICS
FIBER ARTS
SMOKE SIGNAL MISSION SAN JOSE HIGH SCHOOL
April 26, 2024
41717 PALM AVENUE, FREMONT, CA 94539
CHANGES IN ENROLLMENT AND CLASS SECTIONS AT MSJ By Shuhan Jin, Jeffrey Li, Vidyuth Sridhar & Ethan Yan Staff Writers
BACKGROUND
As the 2023-24 term comes to a close, MSJ teachers and administration have been working on the master schedule of class sections for the upcoming school year. Factors like student course selection and enrollment may influence class sizes and sections, leading to potential changes for both students and teachers. The Smoke Signal interviewed students, teachers, and administration to examine the updates in enrollment and courses and their impact.
Enrollment in FUSD decreased from 35,431 in the 2019-20 school year to 33,107 in the 2023-24 school year. Reflecting this reduction, MSJ student enrollment has also decreased, dropping from 2,046 students in 2018-19 to 1,971 in 202324. Furthermore, FUSD projects that MSJ’s student body will reduce from 1,822 students during the 2023-24 school year to 1,742 students during the 2024-25 school year. This, along with the MSJ’s current 30-students-per-class mandate, means that the school can not offer courses with low interest. “[One of] the courses … we couldn’t offer is French 2 because we had less than 10 kids sign up for it. … [We] can’t run a class with just 10 kids,” Principal Amy Perez said. Recent changes in the budget may also impact MSJ courses. State revenues for the 2022 tax year were around $25 billion lower than what policymakers expected. As a result, Gov. Gavin Newsom reduced the minimum amount of education funding set by Proposition 98 by $13.7 billion for the 2024-25 fiscal year. According to SURFBoardE Representative Sophomore Diya “Other factors that involve us losing sections or staffing ... [inSharma, these budget cuts could impact course format and quality. For instance, because of funding, MSJ clude] the overall status of enrollment. ... As an entire district, accould not keep Peer Resource as a zero-period class and had to make it an elective, and due to subsetually the whole state of California, enrollment has been going quent low interest, the class will be removed for the 2024-25 school year. down. So when enrollment goes down, they reduce staffing, and when we reduce staffing, that means less teachers, meaning less classes.” — Principal Amy Perez
IMPACT ON TEACHERS
As a result of declining enrollment, the amount of classes offered at MSJ IMPACT ON STUDENTS has correspondingly decreased for the next school year. “[The declining enrollment] is not going to change how we teach or what we teach, it just would When it comes to available courses for students, most students’ class placements will not be affect the number of teachers that we have [at MSJ]. We have to have the correct severely affected by enrollment changes because the courses available each year are largely based number of teachers for the number of students, so if we have fewer students, you’d on student interest rather than the school population. “Class sections are always based on student need fewer teachers,” Math Teacher Melissa Saldivar said. enrollment, so however many students we have enrolled, that’s how many classes we get,” NightIn the face of a student enrollment decrease, teachers may choose to exercise their engale said. “We build our master schedule based on what [students] put on your course request contractual option to be transferred to another FUSD school — a process known as volsheets … It’s always about 30 students per class.” As a result, however, some classes may have untary surplussing. If a staff surplus still exists, tenured teachers may be reassigned to partto be removed or combined due to insufficient interest. For instance, according to French time or full-time positions at other FUSD schools. “Tenured teachers, per their contract, don’t Teacher Herveline Sartori, MSJ will not offer French 1 and 2 next year, and French 4 and AP lose their jobs. It goes by seniority … If we didn’t have enough classes to give [to every tenured French will be combined into one class. If enrollment continues to decline, each class would teacher] in a department, the last-hired person … maybe they work part-time here, and part-time require higher interest to approve, leading to more and more classes being cut from the at another school,” Assistant Principal Jeana Nightengale said. course list. A decrease in enrollment may also lead to increased class sizes, which could In addition to shifting employment, some teachers worry that a continued trend of enrollment have a negative effect on student learning. “The larger class sizes would affect the contraction could increase overall class sizes. “My classes have been full this year, but I am anticipatattention [students] will get from their teacher,” Kang said. ing it to be as full next year. In the future, if enrollment numbers keep going down and they are shrinking the number of teachers, our class sizes [may] get bigger,” English Teacher Flora Kang said.
FUTURE
With the fluctuations in enrollment every year, the future of classes and sections at MSJ is unclear. However, MSJ administrators hope to reignite interest and increase enrollment at MSJ by expanding promotion efforts at events like the Spring Exposition (Expo) that took place on April 18, which showcased the school’s courses, clubs, and activities for middle schoolers. “We sent out mailers to homes, we’re inviting food trucks, we’re inviting all the clubs, we’re having sports, the band, everyone trying to showcase what the school has to offer so that the community could see and hopefully want their students to attend our school,” Perez said. Amidst the changes for the 2024-25 school year, MSJ administrators are working to make the adjustment process smooth and serve everyone’s best interests. “We try to get students all the classes that they’re asking for, and as for teachers, we try to make sure that all teachers have a position at the site,” Perez said.
“I currently think that the largest strain on FUSD’s budget is the introduction of new classes and infrastructure projects that were unable to fully follow through and are on such a large scale that they don’t benefit a large percentage of the student population.” — SURFBoardE Representative Sophomore Diya Sharma
FUSD ENROLLMENT
MSJ ENROLLMENT
40,000
2,000
Number of Students
Number of Students
2,500
1,500 1,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
500
2018-19
2022-23
2023-24
2024-25
2019-20
2023-24
GRAPHICS BY NEWS EDITOR KAYLEE LIU
ONLINE
THIS MONTH
www.thesmokesignal.org
FREMONT EARTH DAY CELEBRATION
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT
On April 20, the city of Fremont hosted an Earth Day celebration at the Downtown Event Center in partnership with the Washington Hospital Healthcare System. Read the full event coverage on our website.
Taylor Swift released her newest 11th studio album on April 19, named The Tortured Poets Department, a reference to her past relationships. Read the full album review on our website.
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