Despite their microphones being cut off after their allotted three minutes to speak, several parents voiced their displeasure with the Baldwinsville Central School District’s implementation of accelerated math and science classes for middle-schoolers at the Aug. 17 school board meeting.
Board of Education President Victor Jenkins noted that the district’s July 29 Q&A session for parents was “well-attended.”
“We’re very pleased with that,” Jenkins said of that session’s attendance, adding that the board would not be responding to comments made during the “Request to Speak” period of last Monday’s meeting.
Six parents spoke out against the accelerated curriculum, which is set to begin this school year with all seventh-graders taking Regents-prep courses for algebra and earth science.
Rebecca McClain told the board of a petition circulating on thepetitionsite.com, which called for the district to “not implement the proposed changes to accelerate all students in the math and science curriculums nor any of the ripple effect curriculum changes that impact sixth- to ninth-grade curriculums in the 2015-16 academic year.” The petition closed Aug. 17 with 228 signatures, 272 short of its goal of 500 signatures.
“Shame on you — you are gambling with children’s lives, their education, their confidence, their ability to do math and science, their self-worth,” McClain.
McClain said she found it “insulting” that the board had not included the curriculum change on its agenda and said parents’ questions and concerns continue to go unanswered.
“There is still time to abort this mission and wait until you have run every last safety check,” McClain said, invoking the rocket and “launch pad” analogy Superintendent Dr. David Hamilton used in his July 29 presentation.
“If you don’t, the rocket that Dr. Hamilton likes to show with his presentations will go by the way of the space shuttle Challenger,” McClain said. “It will blow up, and when it does, the casualties are our children.”
Kimberly Sullivan-Dec, a parent of a rising seventh-grader and a rising ninth-grader, accused the district of violating New York state education law by not having the board vote on the curriculum change. Hamilton told the Messenger that the board is only obligated to vote on new, credit-bearing high school courses.
“Usually, [with] a new course there’s a presumption that there’s a cost [for materials or hiring personnel] associated with it,” Hamilton said.
Sullivan-Dec also criticized the district’s timeline in rolling out the new curriculum.
“Why does this need to be done so quickly?” she asked, saying that South Side Middle School in Rockville Centre, New York — one of the schools on which Baldwinsville is basing its program — took six years to implement the change. “To allow them to take algebra in eighth grade so they can fail it and take it again and again … is horrible.”
Sullivan-Dec said the district has not maintained clear communication with parents about the change. She said teachers are not trained in differentiated instruction, the practice of teaching a student population with varying abilities.
“You are going to hurt our students, and quite honestly, you are going to hurt all levels of students,” Sullivan-Dec said.
Elizabeth Smith said she was concerned whether teachers would have time to provide enrichment for her soon-to-be-seventh-grader, whom she described as a high academic achiever.
“To go at that pace and also remediate is impossible,” Smith said. “There’s not enough time to go to the teacher and say, ‘Please enrich me.’”
Smith said she was “puzzled” and “discouraged” by the district’s decision.
Jeanne Morelli said she was “disappointed” with the impending change because of its strain on both teachers and students.
“Not every kid is the same … and that’s okay,” Morelli said. “They are not going to have enough time to do their homework. They are going to cry at night.”
Morelli’s microphone shut off when her comments ran longer than the three minutes the school board allots each speaker, but she continued speaking.
“Your kids — whom you are pushing — are going to fail the Regents exams,” she said.
Hamilton said district officials are still processing questions parents submitted at the July 29 presentation. The answers will be posted along with a “Frequently Asked Questions” document on the district website.
“The meeting was two weeks ago. How are you going to do this before school starts?” Sullivan-Dec called from the audience.
Despite parents’ objections, the district is still going through with the accelerated curriculum.
“We have spent a great deal of time talking about these changes,” Jenkins said.
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Joseph DeBarbieri said teachers spent a significant portion of summer professional development time on middle-level math and science instruction, including 13 days on seventh-grade math alone.
DeBarbieri said the revamped curriculum is not brand-new but is a result of “re-prioritizing” middle-level math and science material.
DeBarbieri added that helping teachers with differentiated instruction is an “ongoing initiative.”
Hamilton said professional development at Baldwinsville seeks to break down the traditional isolation of teachers and classes. The accelerated middle-school curriculum, he said, is an example of that.
“The most beneficial form of professional development is collaboration,” Hamilton said. “We’re trying to break down that [isolation] and take advantage of the power of teams of teachers.”
