By Ashley M. Casey

Staff Writer

A review of the Baldwinsville Central School District’s acceleration philosophy at the Feb. 6 board of education meeting sparked a discussion about how much say parents, teachers, students and administrators should have in the decision to place students in accelerated math and science courses. The district’s directors of curriculum and instruction, Tony Cardamone (kindergarten through grade six) and Renee Burnett (grades seven through 12) reaffirmed that families remain the driving force behind acceleration decisions.

Because of the ill-fated rollout of universal acceleration in the 2015-16 school year, none of this year’s seventh-graders are taking accelerated courses, but soon will make decisions about acceleration for eighth grade.

Cardamone and Burnett laid out the components of the district’s acceleration philosophy, which include the beliefs that:

• All students should have the opportunity and the access to advanced level courses
• Parents with their student have the choice to accept, deny or challenge these opportunities
• A teacher’s role is supportive, but neutral
• Guidance counselors have conducted due diligence in soliciting both student and parent input for scheduling purposes.

Some BOE members expressed concern about a largely parent-driven policy, which officially has been in place since the 2003-04 school year.

“I agree the parents and students absolutely should be the drivers,” BOE President Victor Jenkins said. “How do we know parents are properly educated [on their choices]?”

Cardamone said the district informs families of sixth-graders that an average of 85 percent or higher is recommended for a student to pursue accelerated classes. Deputy Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Joe DeBarbieri said the district is revamping the course catalog to be more “interactive.” Administrators said the district also recommends the ideal sequence in which a student takes Regents science courses (Living Environment, Earth Science, chemistry and physics).

Cardamone said the teacher’s role as supportive but neutral is meant to protect the student-teacher relationship.

“We don’t want to put the teacher in the position of saying, ‘You’re in, you’re not,’” Cardamone said.

Cardamone shared his own experience with that type of conflict: As a sixth-grader in the Liverpool Central School District, a teacher told him he would not be successful in accelerated courses, and Cardamone’s parents disagreed.

Board member Christy Pavetto Bond said one of her children had a similar conflict with a teacher. She recalled him saying, “This teacher hates me.”

Board member Jim Goulet expressed concern that teachers might be stifled from sharing important information about a student’s readiness for accelerated classes.

“Are teachers being told what to say?” he asked.

“I don’t think we’ve silenced a teacher,” Cardamone replied. “A parent can call a teacher any time.”

DeBarbieri said teachers are encouraged to emphasize a student’s strengths. Guidance counselors and administrators can handle more “difficult conversations” with parents without putting the teacher in the conflict. He said parents and teachers should be routinely checking in with each other about a student’s progress.

“We hope the conversation is happening every time in the grading cycle,” DeBarbieri said.

DeBarbieri said if a parent solicits a teacher’s opinion about their child’s progress, the teacher is free to give it.

“When it’s unsolicited [is] what we’re trying to prevent,” he said.

Alex Ewing, principal of Ray Middle School, said working with guidance counselors is key to placing a student successfully.

“We also do have some parent meetings planned for the end of March to coincide with letters that will be sent to families about recommendations for eighth-grade programming at the accelerated level,” Ewing said. “At that point, we are going to do some parent meetings to make sure that parents are really informed about the coursework available.”

Renee Burnett, director of secondary curriculum and instruction, said there are “on-ramps” and “off-ramps” available to students to opt into or out of accelerated courses. Within the first five weeks of the marking period, students with an 85 percent average can “challenge into” an accelerated course.

Conversely, if a student is struggling with accelerated course material, he or she can move to the non-accelerated course in the first 20 weeks.

DeBarbieri said the majority of those students change courses in the first five to 10 weeks of the marking period.