Thursday 12:20 PM Amherst Regional High School
Apparently Amherst School Superintendent Maria Geryk is too young to have learned the valuable lesson from that iconic Paul Newman movie concerning a, "failure to communicate."
Her email blast update on Friday, the day after the BIG walkout, talks about all sorts of somewhat mundane -- but certainly interesting to parents -- in house school matters, but carefully avoids mentioning the walkout, err, I mean, "Walk-out Dialogue".
Hmm ... So an event occurs during the school day that impacts upwards of half the High School and according to Middle School principal Marisa Mendonsa 90% of those younger students participating via a "sit in" (APD also responded to to a 911 call from the MS and stayed on site until school ended) and it's gets no mention?
Certainly one dot in her email that could have been connected to the walkout was the HR report about "Staff of Color" and progress towards getting it to be "reflective of the community".
The Regional School District definitely has a long way to go, with staff of color now standing at 18% while student enrollment of color is 43.5%.
But still, the Amherst Regional School District is in the top ten percent statewide for highest proportion of employees of color in a public school system.
It would be interesting to see the percentage of employees of color in highly-paid administrative positions (both in the schools and the town).
The Amherst School Committee has a 20% minority make up. And Amherst Town Meeting is probably in the 1% or 2% range.
Now that's worthy of a walkout.
The Amherst School Committee has a 20% minority make up. And Amherst Town Meeting is probably in the 1% or 2% range.
Now that's worthy of a walkout.
Amherst Town Meeting last May
69 comments:
This is what Maria and her administration does: only talks about what she wants and doesn't talk about what is REALLY happening in the schools, hoping the stuff she doesn't like and doesn't know how to handle will just go away.
This is one of the reasons why last year was so difficult for her. When 1 teacher was getting harrassed, that news was initially never told to the public. And by hoping it would go away, it just snowballed!
Yes, there's no question the original October (2013) incident with Carolyn Gardner was swept under the rug.
And that could come back to haunt them with the MCAD complaint.
The conversation is certainly one-way. An example, the district has been working on revising the high school math curriculum for 3 years and guess what?There is a meeting on this coming Monday. Why hasn't this information been sent out to parents earlier? Why such short notice? Why not a robo call? Why not have had a series of meetings over the past years?
Because the administration doesn't care what parents think. The fewer the better. And no one cares what students think.
And the decisions are already made. This Monday night meeting is icing on the cake that is already baked. No data, no discussion, no re-thinking. The deal is done.
I'll add to anon@ 10:07: why must the same cohort (current 8th graders) always have to be the FIRST to get the new math changes? This cohort has been especially poorly served by our districts changes in math curriculum. Why can't they wait a year to implement? After all this is "to align with the 2011 Massachusetts Mathematics Frameworks". We are already 5 years behind on this effort, will it matter for our current 8th graders to change next year to a completely new math program (and all associated changes in teacher training)? Why does this cohort continue to take the brunt? Is it that they've already written them off as a loss? So they make a good experimental group? The guinea pigs?
Minorities are not the only people missing from our Town Meeting.
Seen any businesspeople in there lately? Or even minority businesspeople?
I guess I will never understand why it's necessary to hire people on the basis of their color. If all the teachers were "of color", would that be a bad thing? I'm long past school-age, but I don't remember ever thinking "Gee, i'm glad my teacher is the same color as I". Why can't qualification for the job be all? Without regard to race, color, creed, national origin, or sexual orientation? I too have a dream.
The decision on the math curriculum has not been made. Definitely not.
There have been notices about the math meetings for weeks. The potential texts have been in Central Office for over a month and how many concerned parents have checked them out? I asked the receptionist about a week ago and the number was zero. This is typical of people on this board, all complaints but no action. If anon 10:07 was so concerned why haven't they stopped by the look at the books? Because they'd rather complain. It is way way easier then meaning conversation where our assumptions might see the light of day.
11:43 anon:
Different often means better. The current middle school text is better than the teacher created stuff my kids brought home. While new, at least it lets me know that all the standards are being covered....not just the teacher's pet projects and favorite topics.
How exactly is the district, you or anyone else defining people of color on staff?
Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American.
How many people under 40 do we have in Town Meeting?
Without diversity, people, all is lost.
Right.
Or gays, or atheists, or -- gasp -- Republicans.
There are so many ways to communicate with the central office and they encourage it. email, in-person, write on their blog, speak at school committee, write to the school committee, write a letter to the papers, etc.
Of course, they can't really respond to anonymous statements or complaints on a blog.
Larry, you're one of the four Republicans in town and you're in Town Meeting. (Kidding.)
If black people or Asians don't run for Town Meeting, they don't get elected. I heard someone say, 'Maybe they don't run because they know they won't be elected.'
Just for the record, I'm registered as "unenrolled."
Long live diversity of thought.
Maybe it looks like parents are not involved in this round of new math textbook decisions because some of us have already sat on committees for new math textbooks, and sat through meetings where math professors/parents recommended excellent math textbooks for our students only to have that be ignored. And we watched new math curriculum administration come and go in this district (got Mike Hayes? Got Beth Graham? Now Rhonda?). What did all those good discussions and text book recommendations from almost a decade ago now, get us?
If the administration doesn't like what the good, hands-on committee from a decade ago recommendso based on data, wait a decade or so, and those parents/professors will burn out and maybe the next crop of parents won't be as involved.
Anon 5:39 could not have said it any better. That is exactly what happened to me. "Oh, parents please get involved and give us your opinion". They ignored the large majority opinion and went with the one they picked months before.
Sitting on any committee with the Schools is a waste of time. You can't play fair when your playmate (the schools) is stacked with hypocrites and lairs.
In the United States our fairy tales begin "Once upon a time..." In Communist Russia theirs begin "Someday there will be..."
Actually out of the 408 districts in Massachusetts, Amherst has the sixth highest percent of teachers of color in the state, putting us in the top 2% for highest proportion of employees of color in a public school system.
The question becomes, locally and state-wide, why do people of color choose not to enter the field of education?
The encouragement to enter the field (why anyone would encourage someone to enter the field these days I don't know) needs to come from high school and college advisors, there's really not much administrators hiring in a public school setting can do but invite qualified applicants and hire the qualified people of color that do apply.
Asking for opinions from amateur and unqualified parents doesn't mean that teachers and administrators shouldn't go with their trained and professional expertise. That's what we hire them for.
I agree that the one or two nay-sayers on this blog just like to complain about something.
Here we go again making it about the race of the potential hirees. What difference does somone's color make?
Inviting professors of the subject area is not the same as asking amateur parents.
How was hiring Beth Graham, a music teacher I think, to be the district curriculum leader a better choice than a math professor and vested parent. She didn't last a full year..ando no decision was made.
Anon 8:37 PM: Because minorities and women and physically handicapped people have historically been denied the required education and fair employment in many fields, including public education jobs, so we have to pay attention to it now to eradicate the bias that existed/exists. Also, kids who go to school in a system where the staff and faculty represent their background and culture, and that physically look like them, do better academically and socially in the school setting, so it's important that people of color are represented within the staff and faculty. Color, ethnicity etc probably don't make much difference if you're hiring for a factory job or a firefighting position, for example.
I've heard people like Walter argue on here in the past that we need to hire more men as teachers for the sake of boys' education and social and emotional growth, as well.
Only about 15% of certified teachers in the state are preoplre of color. If Amherst hires more to represent the percentage of students of color in our schools, it just means that another system is denied their presence, and will have a lower percentage of teachers of color. Why are our kids more important than the students of color in another district, especially considering that we are already way above average for the state (6thin state out of 408 districts, top 2%)?
It's the responsibility of the people of color and their mentors, such as Shabazz at UMass, during the educational phase of potential teachers, to encourage intelligent students of color to enter the field. People like Shabazz are failing our society by not graduating more students of color with education degrees, public school administrators can only hire as many as are available, which again is a low percentage overall.
Anon 6:49,
If the trained experts should go with their opinions then why do they bother to ask parents in the first place? How much respect should we have for teachers and administrators that ask us to come to hours worth of meetings just to disregard our opinions, in the name of getting everyone involved.
If the schools think they know best and don't need our opinions then they should have the courage to come out and say it.
If not, as has been the case, then they are a bunch of spineless, condescending, hypocritical, narcissists that I have ever had the displeasure of knowing. If you believe any different then you are blind, ignorant, or in denial.
Maybe they hope for good recommendations and opinions but then get out of touch concepts from angry and negative know it all professional students.
Asking for opinions from amateur and unqualified parents doesn't mean that teachers and administrators shouldn't go with their trained and professional expertise. That's what we hire them for.
I am sure that the NYPD is saying the same thing about its critics right now...
I too think that hiring based on skin color is wrong. I am black and never cared if a teacher " looked like" me. (Actually, we don't all look alike, anyway.)
You are far more right than you realize -- and the ultimate irony is that Bailey Jackson is the reason why Shabazz's students aren't able to become K-12 teachers, although another irony is that Shabazz himself also precludes them from becoming teachers.
Here's why:
Prior to Ed Reform (1994), one became a teacher by majoring in Education as an undergrad -- and a lot of UMass students (of all races) did. Bask in the day, teacher certification was essentially what the UMass School of Education existed for, it's why Mark's Meadow was built.
Ed Reform required teachers to have a full academic major in the subject matter they wished to teach in addition to the required Education Methods courses and semester of "Student Teaching." These courses are offered as an independent graduate degree, although that's not required and this is where Bailey comes in.
He was the Dean of the UM School of Education when certification via the undergrad Education major was eliminated -- and, hence, most of the So#'s undergraduate students.
To save the Social Justice and Counseling Psych programs, Dean Bailey Jackson eliminated Teacher Certification -- his stated rationale was that the State Colleges (now State Universities) could do that while UMass Amherst could perform the loftier and more noble goal of teaching Social Justice.
I thought that was asinine and said so at the time -- there was a real demand for certification, to the extent to which UMass found that it couldn't completely abandon teacher certification -- but Bailey Jackson expanded his Social Justice Program at the expense of Teacher Certification.
Remember too that one must major in the subject one wishes to teach -- and when Shabazz's students major in Afro Am instead of Math, Science, or English, they are largely precluded from later becoming K-12 teachers because of the undergraduate major requirement....
This is the "backstory" on why the UM School of Education isn't providing these teachers (of all races) and it once again comes down to "walking the walk" versus "talking the talk."
Notwithstanding the inherently racist belief that prejudice based on skin pigmentation is acceptable, it is one thing to say that we need more Black teachers -- it's another thing to do something toward actually producing them.
"The question becomes, locally and state-wide, why do people of color choose not to enter the field of education?"
The average Black Male High School Graduate has the reading & writing ability of the average White Female Seventh Grader. You can start right there -- far too many Black families do not value education and you wind up with children who neither have the ability to teach nor the desire.
Second, there is the issue of "opportunity cost" -- if one goes into teaching, one can't go into something else -- and hence the question ought to be if Black College Grads have a greater ability to enter other careers and choose to do so.
Affirmative Retribution is one thing on the macro level, on the micro level it becomes something else entirely. It means that the Black kid gets into law school or gets hired on Wall Street while the White kid doesn't == and if teaching is the second choice for both kids, guess which one becomes the teacher....
Can somebody please post the time/location of the Monday's Math curriculum meeting in High School? What is the agenda?
Monday (12/8) 6:30 – 7:45 ARHS Library
The purpose of this meeting is for parents/guardians to explore the curricula (textbooks), do some of the math, and provide comments for the ARHS math department.
Their background? Their culture? I assume we are all Americans, for the most part. Why emphasise our differences. That keeps us apart. MLK's dream, after all, is mine too. Not color, but content of character. John Lennon was on to something with his oft-ridiculed bagism concept.
7:15 am,
I object to your characterization of black families as devaluing education. In thirty-five years of teaching, that has not been my experience. What evidence do you have to support your contention?
Also please provide a source for your statement about reading and writing abilities.
As one of the many, many parents who have tried to participate in the process of evaluating and changing the math curricula, I think I can safely say that I learned that there is virtually no role for parents -- or students for that matter. Or data or open discussion. Or experts. (Remember Dr. Chen anyone? Or the other math teachers who also are parents who gave input?)
If the district really wanted parent involvment and input it would send info to the parents, not put a few textbooks in a library. Explain the different curriculum being looked at, their ups and downs. Give different points of view. Provide information on results--how kids do on standard tests? Experiences of other districts. How a math program helps kids who are behind and challenges kids who are strong in math and want to get ahead.
If the district is looking at shelving the traditional math program or IMP, these are two programs the high school has used for years. How do students in each program fare? Compare SAT scores, the numbers that go onto calculus and how they do in calculus. How did they do in college? Ask the students what they think.
Parents have asked for numbers comparing student achievement in IMP vs. traditional math for years. Send them to us. A lot of people can't attend meetings, so written materials are better. Set up a temporary blog on math so parents can communicate with each other, students can jump in, as can math and science teachers and administrators. Promote an open exchange and listen.
Changing the math program is probably the most significant change to the high school in many years. Get the community involved. Inform us. I could provide a large email list of parents that have been involved in the past. Use the names and emails of all the parents who have attended math nights in the past. (Hopefully, these names were collected.) Get ahold of the ACE mailing list. Send out an open-ended Survey Monkey asking parents to talk about their kids' experiences, concerns and suggestions.
Janet McGowan
Is Chen that Common Core proponent?
Janet McGowan has a proposal for a start to open discussion in curriculum change in ARPS. School should engage the community with open heart and open mind, not just pretend to listen and throw it away afterwards.
Not every parent has time to attend a school meeting with restrictive and limited agenda.
A blog can be a good media to continue to collect ideas and opinions and feed them into School.
What curriculum changes are in the making in ARHS? Can somebody share what they know? Maybe Nina Koch can talk about what she knows.
I think the mistake Janet and some of her friends make, in a nutshell, is assuming that because the district doesn't do exactly what a small group of parents and their favored "expert" say, then they haven't listened, threw it all away, didn't incorporate what they heard or use it to make decisions. Janet suggests using the ACE mailing list to get suggestions; what she doesn't consider is that there are other groups of parents with different opinions and different sets of data with different goals recommending something else. Janet assumes her and her friends' recommendations are the "right" ones that will lead the public schools into the promised land.
In my former business I often consulted with experts and clients for opinions. If I had gone with everything that was recommended, I wouldn't have been doing my job, and I would have been OUT of business.
If Janet and her friends had all the best answers they could point to similar public school systems that incorporated all their ideas and that are way out in the forefront. The attitude Janet displays is a common problem in this town and towns like Amherst.
There will be a new high school math curriculum starting next year (for the incoming 9th graders). It will affect some 10th graders too depending on what they are taking next year.
For students who are currently in IMP 2, IMP 3, IMP 4, Geometry, Alg II, or Pre-Calc, there will be no change.
The math department has been going through a long process of evaluating different curricula, according to a set of criteria that were agreed upon by the whole department. So it's not a question of "Which one do you like?" but rather "To what extent does Curriculum A do X, Y and Z?"
We were told quite a while back (I think two or three years ago) that we needed to move from two pathways to one pathway, so that is what we are doing.
I know some people believe that the decision has already been made, but that really is not true. I changed my own mind several times as we went through the process. There was no foregone conclusion.
By the way, anything I say on this blog represents my view only, not that of the math department.
If people have specific questions, they could write to Ian Stith (stithi@arps.org).
Let's say this: if you, personally know how to long divide without the aid of a calculator, you may have a say. If not, then you're out, and you'll get a home version of our game
Thank you Nina that is very helpful.
Are we witnessing the rumblings of an attempted ACE comeback? I hope so, especially if it results in a couple more of them moving out of town.
I understand that the math curriculum has not been chosen yet; what I do understand is that the current 8th graders will be the guinea pigs for the new curriculum in 9th grade next year. And when they are in 10th. And 11th. They were already the first to experience the 1-year of a new math curriculum in 6th grade (complete with new Every Day Math text books purchased for just 1 year because the district was still in the process of picking a Grade 6-8 math curriculum), the first to experience the Grade 7 Math and Math Flex models using a new curriculum (Big Ideas text; both math groups would go at the same speed, but to different depths. Everyone got 2 brand new text books so that they could leave one at home,) They are now the first to experience the Math 8 and Math 8 Plus model (with like 3 different options to get the work done for the "plus" part, a new curriculum (Big Ideas), and the do-it-outside-of-school-hours geometry course after school.
I am going to put my 8th grader in private school for 9th grade because I cannot have my child's math education be an experiment for 7 straight years (grades 6-12). My child's ability and interest in math could very well dictate what college and career path is taken or not taken. Not only are they implementing a new curriculum every year, they implement a new model of how to split the kids by ability. There is a lot of teacher training required to get up to speed on a new curriculum, and a new model of grouping the kids by ability. According to my child, most of the kids (half?) are struggling with the math in Math 8 Plus. I would really like to see an analysis done of how the kids are doing in regular and flex/plus math 7 and 8 to see how well the program is implemented. We never get to see an analysis of results of changes in curriculum. One good change I have seen from the changes in the math curriculum is that in 6th grade, the kids are finally doing 25 min of math HW (instead of 5 min, in previous years). And the 6th grade is now using the Big Ideas curriculum so that the kids will be better prepared for math 7 and 8.
anon@9:52 has it exactly right. There is no need that math has to change next year for incoming 9th graders. I understand that the IMP program is unsustainable (because so few students opt for it), but the traditional math program can stand for the incoming 9th graders. I find it inconceivable that it doesn't meet the current MA standards. A fear many parents might have is that the HS will pick a curriculum along the lines of IMP math. Past parents (and students) have demonstrated they DON"T want it, despite the hard sell every year by the HS math department.
Anon 6:18--I suppose it is satisfying to have been so right about so many things. The problem is the delay in changes and the Amherst students harmed by the delay.
1. Parents, Dr. Chen and many elementary teachers all wanted to get rid of Investigations. It was slow, circular to the point of head-banging boredom for many students, hard for non-English speaking students to do, hard to teach and, weirdly, weak on how to solvie math equations. And it had poor results in terms of testing and actual math learning.
But the district not only ran Dr. Chen out of town, it held onto Investigations, it ordered an expensive update. Then the district hired elementary math coaches (another expense and different from Chen's recommendation to have math teachers teach math to elementary students). Only after the math coaches criticized Investigations and Everyday Math was put into place. The SAME MATH PROGRAM recommended years earlier by a committee of teachers and parents, who included upper level math teachers. Sadly my kids and many others suffered through Investigations, helped by elementary teachers who supplemented with additional work. I've been told that parents tried to get Investigations shelved years before.
2. Extensions also died an untimely death after years and years of criticism by parents and students. The secret, unproven test to sort out what 7th graders could skip 7th grade math also was shelved, after intense criticism by parents about how unfair it was. Both really favored students who's parents knew about the importance of the test and could provide at-home help to kids struggling to work on largely untaught Extensions problems.
3. Nina Koch, a HS math teacher I have great respect for, underscores my point that the district is not interested in informing and engaging parents and students in changes to the math curricula. She tells us there are changes in 9th grade math next year. These changes meet the criteria of A & X, Y & Z. Why don't I know that? Why don't I know the criteria she is referring to? What did the teachers have to say about this?
Scores of parents have gone to math night, went to see Dr. Chen, remain avidly interested in their children's education. The district does not reach out to them, ask their opinions, send out info and keep them involved in the process. I offered the ACE email list as a way to reach out to some of these parents. Of course, there are other lists. There are also PGO newletters, superintendents emails, principals' blogs, the U.S. mail, backpacks to stuff, open house nights, Robo calles, each schools' website. Use them! (Yesterday I couldn't find any info about tonight's meeting on the high school website).
Nina, I don't want to write to Ian Stith, I want him to write to me -- and other parents and students.
Nina Koch has given many of us with more information and exchange than we have had with district leaders.
more….
4. I recently heard from another parent that the high school will move from having different level math class --honors and college prep classes -- to teaching students of all levels in the same math class. The reason behind this change is the loaded term Equity.
Is this true? I'd like to hear more about this and be part of the discussion.This is another big change that puts a heavy load on teachers and could hurt students. Is anything happening to AP math classes.
Also, I think the Equity issue isn't the splitting students between honors and non-honors classes. It is inequitable that there are so few students that are low-income, of color, ELL or have less-educated parents are in honors math classes. Why is that? What happened before high school?
Could Investigations, the secret 7th grade test, the lack of math teachers in elementary school have contributed to that? Or the lack of at-home coaching by educated parents, tutors, Kumon, preschool, etc.? Is it poor placement, poor assessment or choice of classes? It's certainly not the students' skin color, or their parents' salaries or education. So what is it? And how can the district fix it?
Let's get some information and talk -- in a dialogue created and led by our well-paid district leaders.
Janet McGowan
I agree with 9:52 and 10:40 that they don't understand and are fearful.
"We're having a meeting and you're invited and we'd like your comments and opinions."
"Why don't you ever include us and hear our comments and opinions?"
My comment is that I can't make the meeting and want to know all that you've been talking about and decided on high school math for the past 3 years.
You can tell that the comments supporting Janet's comments about math curriculum are spontaneous and genuine and come from many, many parents who happen to have the same concerns and who came to a post about a walkout to discuss their common dissatisfaction.
Janet, will you PLEASE run for a seat on the school committee??
I would vote for Janet over Shabazz any day.
An ACE comeback?
The schools know how to nip that in the bud.
Oh my God. People who want to discuss how effectively ALL our children are being taught.
It's deja vu all over again.
Seems I've been in this movie before. It ends with Katharine Appy riding in to save the day from dysfunctionality.
We used to have a blog to discuss all these issues. I remember certain Regional School Committee members trying to find a way to suppress it.
What was its name again?
Actually there is a blog to discuss all these issues. Here is a posting from October 24:
Math Review Underway
If you post a question or comment there, someone will reply to you very quickly.
Still not sure why so many would want to honor a man as foolish as Michael Brown proved himself to be.
Abbie says:
I went to the HS math presentation last night. I think there might have been 5 parents participating. Lack of participation was baffling- apathy? poor advertisement by the district? trust in the district's decision making process?
Regardless, I think a lot of parents and students will be surprised and dismayed by the issues under consideration by the district. I'm not going into details here, I'm planning on writing a letter/editorial for the paper but to sum it up: Be concerned that HS math might be (A) "investigations style" pedogogy (B) no honors course offered (i.e. students of all abilities in one classroom w attempts at differentiation). Parents and guardians!! You need to get involved...
Abbie = Staus Quo
Thanks for the report Abbie.
Do you happen to know, of the seven parents who were there, how many were smarter and know more about math education than the teachers and admins who were there?
Doing away with honors math? How ridiculous is that? The dumming down of the Amherst school system. Math is the one area where you really must group abilities together. There will be a mass exodus. Just watch!
I think you meant to say the "dumbing" down of the Amherst school system. Dummy.
It looks to me like the kids Abbie is most concerned about in the subject area she considers most important are doing pretty darn well, comparatively speaking.
http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/reportcard/rc.aspx?linkid=37&orgcode=06050505&orgtypecode=6&
weird, i've received plenty of notice/invitations about the meetings planned for math, including an email that everyone in the district got with lots of details last week. the point being the low turnout of five people at the first meeting definitely was not a lack of advertising from the schools like abbie suggests unless some people need a full page ad in the NY Times or a personal phone call from cohen or something.
I used the word dumming purposely.
Yes, there was a tremendous effort to involve parents in a decision that took years to study. A fdw textbooks at a library and one poorly advertised Monday nite meeting a few weeks before the final decision was just enuf citizen participation for the district. Amherst Together again.
They All say that. Lol
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