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Amanda Butterfield ReportingLou Mithcell, Parent: "I think it's really bad. I think every student deserves one teacher and to be in one classroom."
The ratio of students to teachers at one school in Centerville is nearly 50 to 1. The district took away a teacher at J.A. Taylor Elementary in Centerville because the number of school-aged kids overall is declining, and that's leaving administrators to come up with creative ways to fill the gap.
One and one-third teachers, that's what nearly 60 fourth graders at J.A. Taylor Elementary School get this year. To accommodate, the kids are shifting classes and teachers all day and it's very confusing.
William is in fourth grade. He loves, dissecting, but hates how his schedule is set up.
Lou Mitchell, Mother: "Very frustrating, every mother wants their child to go to school and have a teacher that knows them."
The District took away a teacher from JA Taylor Elementary because their student population dropped. So William and his classmates are taught by five different teachers or teacher aides a day, rotating several times throughout the day from a large class mixed with third graders, to a small class with only fourth graders.
Lou Mitchell: "We were completely confused."
William Mitchell, Student: "Because it's confusing because you have to switch back and forth throughout the day."
Rebecca Parkin, Principal: "We sort of got creative and tried something totally different."
Principal Parkin came up with the plan. The reasoning behind it is when the students are learning the core subjects -- math, reading and science -- they are in the smaller classes with kids their own age, taught by a teacher specializing in that grade. But when it's P.E. or social studies the kids are put in bigger mixed classes.
Rebecca Parkin, Principal: "We've tried to make sure they get what they need, but it's not an optimum situation by any means."
Lou Mitchell, Mother: "It comes down to money, legislature. I've never understood why Utah says family oriented, and we have a lot of kids, and we don't put money into the education system. I don't get it."
But there's no other option for William and his classmates, and even though he wants to have just one teacher, it's just not going to happen.
Lou Mitchell, Mother: "They deserve better than this."
Next year, when William is in fifth grade, this problem may follow his class. It's the grade with the least amount of students in it that gets the full time teacher taken away.
