The Paly administration has rearranged students’ schedules in order to balance the student-to-teacher ratios in all classes, according to Principal Jacqueline McEvoy.

Since the beginning of the year, there has been an unequal distribution of students in classes, resulting in classes that are either too large or too small for the administration’s liking, according to McEvoy. McEvoy announced at the Site Council meeting on Sept. 8 that 47 classes comprised of 23 people and 32 classes had at least 33 people.

“We ask departments to be in line with the average of 28.5 people,” McEvoy said.

Last year’s educational budget cut reduced funds to employ teachers and classes, which indicates higher student-to-teacher ratios per class. According to McEvoy, most of the 32 classes with 33 students or above have around 33 to 35 students, with the exception of a Pre-Calculus class of 37 taught by Charlotte Harris.

Harris, who teaches three Pre-Calculus classes of 37, 36, and 30 students, is concerned about giving individual attention to her students in large classes.

“It is hard to give individual attention to my students when there are so many,” Harris said. “I have already helped many students during my first and fifth preps, at brunch, lunch, and after school, which can get overwhelming, because on some of those days I have not had a moment to myself to eat, or grade papers, or prep[are].”

The administration was able to provide more desks and chairs for large classes that initially lacked classroom resources, according to Harris. Space is not as big of an issue as giving adequate individual attention, according to Harris.

“Luckily I happen to be in a very large classroom, so space has not been a problem,” Harris said.

Meanwhile, the English department and the administration have cooperated to redistribute the number of students per class for AP English, whose classes also have irregular numbers of students in them this year. Two AP English classes, taught by Kay Van Der Burg, each comprised of 33 students at the beginning of the year, while the third class, taught by Ellen Austin, had only 16 students. The administration picked out a total of six students whose schedules were easiest to change from the two classes to transplant to the class of 16.

Instructional Supervisor Trinity Klein informed the six students that they could switch back to their previous classes after hearing negative feedback. So far, five students remain in sixth period, and only one student has moved back.

“For many high powered seniors who have five APs and are worried about college, the change was unnerving,” Klein said.

Senior Mahum Sami, one of the six students, felt that the involuntary schedule change was illogical and unfair. “I had been in my first period English class for almost three weeks,” Sami said. “I felt completely fine in that class. I think it’s unfair to move people who had the original seats.”

Sami disapproves of the administrative power to change students’ schedules without their permission.

“For example, if I wanted to change my third period class to fourth period, I would have to fill out a form, get a TA signature, as well as a parent signature,” Sami said. “But apparently that isn’t required if a teacher makes the change, which is unfair to everyone else.”

Senior Gloria Yu, another of the six AP English students who were transferred, agrees that the administration should inform students earlier.

“It surprised me that they didn’t inform us before, and I would have appreciated that more,” Yu said. “But nonetheless, I was fine with the schedule change. I fully understand Ms. Klein’s decision to make the changes that she made.”

The schedule changes were all made in the best interests for both teachers and students, Klein said.

“Teachers can have more time to grade and pay attention to students, while students who would like more attention can get it,” Klein said.

Many students also had concerns about being placed in a new AP English teacher’s class, according to Klein.

“Students weren’t sure what she was all about,” she said. “They didn’t know that she had a strong background in teaching AP courses,”

As for most imbalances in most classes, McEvoy expects that student class drops will also help balance the amount of students per class. During the fall and spring of last year, students dropped a total of 400 classes, without counting any lane changes. However, the vast number of lane changes further complicates the process of neutralizing the amount of classes.

“We are getting better at assigning students lanes,” McEvoy said. “But there are a lot of lanes in math, especially for freshmen. Therefore, there is always a lot of moving around, which is problematic.”