Plan to eliminate courses by department heads reversed by school board

By Jason Emerson

editor

 After a 90-minute discussion among themselves and with a boardroom full of concerned district parents, the Cazenovia Board of Education Monday night unanimously agreed to keep ninth grade Honors English, Social Studies and Earth Science for the 2018-19 school year, overturning a recently announced departmental decision to eliminate those courses.

While department leaders explained the curriculum change was made to better prepare students for advanced courses of study, parents argued the change was unfair and completely unexpected, with no previous announcements having been made before the change was revealed on high school Curriculum Night two weeks ago — and then announced in a letter to parents the Friday before February break.

School board members and even the superintendent said they had no knowledge of the curriculum change prior to Curriculum Night — and they found out about it at the same time parents did — and while they understood the issue was created by a severe “miscommunication” with the high school, they were not happy.

Board members also announced that any such curriculum change must be approved by the Board of Education, under state law and board precedent, which this was not, and while they may not necessarily oppose the plan, they felt they needed time to study and discuss the proposal, just as parents and students need time to discuss and prepare for the possible change.

“I am not going to make a snap decision on this without due consideration, community input and board discussion,” said board Member Lou Orbach, a statement other board members agreed with.

“I’m not prepared to recommend eliminating ninth grade honors at this point,” Superintendent Matt Reilly said. “More discussion is obviously needed.”

The high school department leaders in English, Social Studies and Earth Science responsible for the proposed curriculum change — Kristina Chiarello, Kurt Wheeler and Stacia Nourse, respectively — were present at the Feb. 26 school board meeting and explained how and why the decision to eliminate ninth grade honors was made.

All three said these were department-wide discussions and decisions done to create the best AP experience possible for students in grades 10, which is the year AP classes start.

The department heads all said it was a question of how best to decide when students are ready for advanced level courses in their academic futures. “In my experience, eight grade is too early,” Wheeler said, adding that students in seventh, eighth and ninth grades change drastically as individuals and students in those years. “Our recommendations were sincerely made with the best interests of the students at heart.”

By eliminating ninth grade honors class, giving all students another year of experience in each of the three courses during ninth grade, the departments all felt that students as 10th graders would be better prepared for regents and AP courses, and it would also allow for more students to be included in more advanced classes.

“My main concern is the best placement for all students,” Chiarello said. “I felt this was a very good decision.”

Nourse agreed, and said she was surprised by the number of parents and students who were upset about the plan to eliminate ninth grade honors. “I thought everyone would be excited we were improving the process and opening up [AP] classes,” she said.

Wheeler apologized for parents, board members and district administration not being “fully in the loop” on the curriculum change. He said there was a “breakdown in communication” due to the January departures of high school principal Eric Knuth and Assistant Superintendent for curriculum Terry Ward, who have not been permanently replaced.

“Everybody in this room has the same goal: the best educational opportunities for our children,” Wheeler said. “Nobody is working at cross purposes here.”

Board President Jan Woodworth reiterated Wheeler’s statements and said she agreed there was a “breakdown of communication” because of the loss of the principal and assistant superintendent the previous month. She also said she took offense to all the “out of control rumors” swirling around the district and the community that the honors class changes were done secretly and nefariously.

“This was purely a set of circumstances,” Woodworth said. “There certainly no attempt by anyone … to subversively change something that has been going on.” She said everyone involved acted with the “highest ethical behavior.”

After much discussion, the board unanimously voted approve the district administration’s recommendation to keep the ninth grade honors classes in English, Social Studies and Earth Science for the 2018-19 school year, and to create a committee to investigate and discuss whether the change should be made in the 2019-20 school year.