Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Board of Ed member Bill Gaudelli presents a letter to students that he read aloud prior to his vote to adopt new academic placement structures for the high school and middle schools, as well as the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme.
To the Students: I'm writing this letter to explain what action I hope the BOE will take tonight with regard to deleveling and IB. I am speaking to you to remind all of us of what's really most important tonight: You are, the students. You will experience these changes first hand. Maybe you will meet different students in your classes. Probably you will have different activities that will be evaluated differently. And hopefully, you will be talking about issues that affect this community and the world beyond. This is an exciting change and we are confident that it will make your schools better. Rest assured that we'll be watching with hope and anticipation for how these changes play out. The Board is taking this action because we are sworn…
As anticipated, proposals for academic placement restructuring were approved as well as the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme.
After three months of discussion and public meetings, the South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education approved proposals to reduce academic placement levels in the middle schools and high school and introduce the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme in the middle schools. The middle school restructuring proposal was the most contentious proposal -- eliciting many comments at meetings and online both for and against. However, that proposal passed by a vote of 7-2 (with Wayne Eastman and Mark Gleason dissenting). The high school restructuring proposal passed by a vote of 8 in favor and one against (Eastman). The IB proposal for the middle schools passed unanimously. The votes were not a surprise after the Board signaled its …
Monday, March 5, 2012
The writer argues that the Superintendent's recommendations on academic placement are "misguided."
Contrary to the position of Mr. Latz, which appeared previously, I take strong exception to the Superintendent's recent proposal on academic placement. While well intentioned, I believe it is misguided. For those who haven't followed the debate closely, the issue of academic placement is about levels . . . about whether or not to have them, and if not, whether and how to accommodate the fact that different students have different academic needs. Thus far, the District has substantially de-leveled the 6th and 7th grades and has instituted a program of "differentiated instruction" within single level classrooms. The proposal currently on the table will extend the experiment to the 8th grade and beyond into the high school. Let me say up…
The Board will vote on proposals for middle school and high school restructuring at its March 5 meeting.
The South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education will continue deliberation about and take action on proposals for restructuring academic placements in the high school as well as restructuring placements and the introduction of the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme at the middle schools at its March 5 meeting at 7:30 p.m. at 525 Academy Street. The majority of Board members already signaled support for the proposals at a previous Board meeting on February 22. The Board will also discuss the proposed 2012-2013 school budget tonight. District staff will be making adjustments to the budget discussed in February based on an increase in state aid. See the full agenda below: 7:30 PM REGULAR MEETING Call to Order – …
John Davenport
10:19 pm on Thursday, March 8, 2012
It's weird that anti-IB orgs somewhere in the nation (maybe a Michigan Militia compound?) have spotters to post nonesense like the above when any district tries IB. Let me instead respond to Bill. I appreciate the sentiment, but your remarks are condescending. They imply that anyone who favors a different way of fixing the problems in our past level system -- a way other than "throw the whole … more ›