Usually those “medium” schools are suburban districts with engaged parents and cash. It’s a different universe with its own set of problems. My sister was a te

Usually those “medium” schools are suburban districts with engaged parents and cash. It’s a different universe with its own set of problems. My sister was a teacher in a small urban school district. She had 50 kids enrolled in her 1st grade and never saw more than 20-25. Half of the parents were <25 and a ~6 were in jail for some part of the year. She would go shopping clearance sales after Christmas to buy winter coats to give to students. Some kids weren’t potty trained. Most had unstable living arrangements. Bigger districts see both of those worlds at scale. NYC has 1M students and probably 30-40k in the conditions I described. That scale drives specialization, policy, etc.