At this point, MacArthur has been open for over a year, but has the Jackson-Reed overcrowding problem changed? The main reason for MacArthur’s opening was to lessen JR’s overcrowding problem. As many Jackson-Reed students have experienced, there are either too many or too few students in each classroom. A new school opening in the area was supposed to decrease this problem, but has there been a noticeable change? 

Many of my classes are lacking in the ratio of people to supplies. For example, many courses include disproportionate class sizes with some having too many students and not enough desks! On the other hand, some classes have a shortage of students. I have been in classes with over 35 people, and some with only about 10. Certain classes have even had to combine with others or fully disappear because of the deficiency of students registered. 

There are many possibilities as to why JR has these issues but the main reason is the underfunding of supplies that we receive. The result of underfunding has led to more students than the pile of supplies in DCPS overall, specifically, JR. The ability to have enough textbooks, pencils, calculators, etc is a necessity to learn. When there is a lack of these items, the class tends to get behind or switch to using other materials to use. This affects the quality of learning as people will stop paying as much attention since there aren’t enough supplies to do a math equation, lab, or even read in English. 

While there are still issues in the school, overcrowding is not as bad as last year. For one, it seems that the ability to reach your next class has gotten easier. That is, there are fewer people in the hallways between class periods. Maybe it was just because I was a freshman, but the difficulty of navigating the school from the crowded hallways was a struggle. This trend will continue in the following years to make the school simpler for incoming students.

Overall, Jackson-Reed still has work to do to decrease overcrowding, but it has improved. Hopefully, in the coming years the ratio of students to equipment will even out, and one day there might even be more pencils than students! I’d like DCPS to prioritize funding and allocate the materials for JR to thrive. Although that day isn’t here yet, as MacArthur grows and continues expanding its population, we can hope that the schools will even out the number of people in classes and schools.