Bits of Board of Ed News

I was at the Board of Ed this morning, and I picked up some bits of news for y'all.


Middletown takes a medal in the state education olympics!

Ok, so there isn't really a "state education olympics", but Middletown did receive honors this morning as one of the top three school districts in the state, in terms of improvement. Michael Frechette was invited by the Commissioner of Education to address the annual "back-to-school" gathering of superintendents. He gave a presentation on our district's impressive achievements in test score improvements; you can view his power point on the school system website here.


Did we lose teachers or not?

I remember lots of discussion last Spring about eliminating 13 classrooms, not replacing teachers who were retiring and increasing class sizes, but in the end, I just didn't have a grip on the final outcome. Luckily, while I had Asst. Superintendent Barbara Senges' ear this morning, I was able to get it sorted out.

This year, our elementary schools will have 6 fewer classrooms - that means that some classrooms will be combined. For example - let's say there are 60 third-graders at one school. Last year, that might have been 4 classrooms of 15 students each, but this year it would be 3 classrooms of 20 or so students. The district average for elementary classrooms hovers somewhere around an average of 18 to 19 students per class -- so this would mean a slight increase in class size.

The reduction of these six teaching positions did not require any layoffs, because there were two dozen retirements across the district. In fact, Middletown has been able to hire new teachers this year, some of whom are experienced educators who were laid off from other districts in the state.

So which schools will lose a teacher? Bielefield will lose three classrooms, and Snow, Lawrence and Wesley will lose one each.


Curriculum Committee Sticks Around


As Fishmuscle wrote in the Eye last month, an option was under consideration that would eliminate the current Curriculum Committee, which is made up of three Board of Ed members, and two people from the community. After some discussion, the Curriculum Committee decided to stay in business, with a clarification about the role of the various groups that affect curriculum decisions. This proposal will be considered by the full Board, and includes the following:

•Subject Area curriculum committees will review and develop any changes for the curriculum and learning materials, such as textbooks, covering the full range of pre-K to 12th grade.

•The District Data Team, which has been in place since last year, would now be charged with "general responsibility" for the curriculum. The DDT is the centerpiece of the District Improvement Plan, and is already organized into three areas of focus: curriculum and assessment, professional development and school climate. Made up primarily of teachers and administrators, the DDT is not a public meeting and it reports to the Superintendent. Under the new proposal, the DDT would communicate with the Board's Curriculum Committee, primarily through the Assistant Superintendent. A further proposal was to ask principals and teachers who are part of the DDT to rotate through the Curriculum Committee to offer their perspective.

•The Board of Ed's Curriculum Committee would continue with the "general oversight" on curriculum issues, reviewing all issues before they are passed on to the Board for final approval, if need be.

•The Board of Ed itself is required to have the final say on all these issues.

At Tuesday's meeting there was some debate and dissent among the committee members about whether it was a good idea to relieve the entire Board of the responsibility to hear all presentations about Middletown's curriculum. Board member Sally Boske favored the idea of empowering the DDT with the bulk of curriculum tasks and eliminating the Board's committee as the middleman. She felt that would bring a higher level of information to the full Board, instead of just the few Board members who are part of the Curriculum Committee. She was, however, outvoted; the remainder of the committee agreed to send their proposed organizational structure to the next Board of Ed meeting for their approval.

Here's where I start editorializing: The primary issue seems to be one that balances the desire for open, public process and input from parents, and the efficiencies and expertise offered by allowing the professional staff to take the lead. In the eyes of this citizen, the role of the Curriculum Committee as a gatekeeper will be most effective if they are aggressive about bringing any controversial issues to the full board and the wider public while they are still in the development stages. That might ease the "How Did We Get Here" syndrome that seems to permeate any meeting where changes to the system are considered by the Board. In the worst case scenario, the Curriculum Committee will act as a damper to any significant participation from the Board or the public, as any proposals will have "already been through committee".

The next Board of Ed meeting is Tuesday, August 25th at 7 pm at the cafeteria at Middletown High School.