[Jamie Mac]

Steve, with a bigger school it's easier for a kid to get lost in the crowd and be a number vs a student. I experienced it growing up and also with the consolidation of our elementary schools here. I think my older two were challenged more with the smaller class sizes. The teachers really get to know the students and what they can handle. Every teacher, aid, janitor etc knew every kid and who their families were. Every kid knew every kid. My youngest has larger classes. He rarely has any homework and larger more challenging assignments are almost non existent. Just a guess on my part but I'm betting its due to teacher workload and having a larger number of kids in each class that need extra help. He doesn't know many of the kids in his grade. The larger school seems more like an assembly line in a Chinese factory in comparison. North Hills still has fine schools but we've been able to experience the difference whereas some friends of ours have only known the bigger elementary school and like it just fine. Personally, if I were picking between comparably ranked school districts, I would opt for the one with smaller class sizes and preferably overall smaller number of kids.