Calvin Terrell Amherst Regional Middle School (among angry parents) 10/3/14
Okay parents be sure to bring a box of tissues to the presentation this Sunday when Calvin Terrell sneaks back to Amherst to "recreate" the presentation that traumatized so many of our children back in October.
Although adults are probably a lot less prone to his emotional manipulation.
click to enlarge/read
Interesting that school officials do not want any children at the presentation this time around. If parents had gotten an advance peek at his act back in September, the sorry episode could have been avoided.
By firing him.
Boycott this ridiculous non-event. Show a modicum of sense. Just what this guy needs: more attention. Please forget about any more of this liberal crap.
ReplyDeleteWhy bother. It's old news. Whose to say he's going the do the same presentation anyway. Let it go Maria. You made a major mistake but then again you are known for not vetting people well. Move on and stop trying to prove you were right. A better woman would have admitted that she was wrong and would have gotten far more respect.
ReplyDeleteDid the district just realize that Terrell was coming? Why the short notice?
ReplyDeleteThe Geryk$ take much care
ReplyDeletevetting banks.
-Squeaky Squeaks
p.$. Oh you ~friggan~ betcha!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZTegUNt8Rk
All Hail the scurvy pot-smoker!
ReplyDeleteDon't bring the kids so they can't say it isn't the same presentation?
ReplyDeleteHow many members of the media will be there, besides Larry?
Hi Mr. Kelley,
ReplyDeleteThere was just a huge blow-up at a middle school meeting about schedule change that you should know about. The middle school principal and Mr. Thompson want to change language so that in 7th grade students take two different languages, each for 1/4 of the year, and in 8th grade, students choose either a language or art/drama/movement. They also want to make a music mandatory.
There's a principal's coffee tomorrow where she will discuss it and a school committee meeting next week.
You should get in on this!!
Oh who let this clown back into town. For the love of god people don't encourage this fraud. Write to your SC and the administration and tell them HELL NO.
ReplyDeleteMaria, pull your head out of that dark space and start to think for yourself, please. You make me ashamed to live in this town.
9:17, I am curious why you are so upset about the schedule change. Lots of things are mandatory at schools (math science English etc). It's also very common at middle schools to have all students rotate through a set of courses in music, art, tech ed, etc.. Can you explain why you think it's bad to have all students exposed to some music education?
ReplyDeleteAlso, Mr. Thompson is assistant principal at the high school. Did you mean Mr. Malone?
I would like to see more rather than less music education
DeleteI don't see where 9:17 is/was upset. Where do you get that, Nina?
Deletewhat is the justification given (if any) for asking students not to attend this presentation?
ReplyDeleteWill the presentation be recorded so that parents who cannot attend will still be able to view it?
I can see reasons why the district & Mr. Terrell might want to avoid having it recorded.
Boycott!
DeleteEnough of this foolishness.
This will be Calvin recreating the lecture, not THE lecture. What we will not see is the same tone, language, or emphasis shown in this presentation as was shown to the children. To attend is a waste of time, to support this person and the schools attempt to make things better, even worse.
ReplyDeleteCutting language choices in the middle school is not good for.kids. Also, it then elimitates the option of taking the AP language class as a senior in high school. It's kind of like: not offering Algebra to all 8th graders eliminates the option of taking calculus as a high school senior (math is a 5 year sequence).
ReplyDeleteParents of middle school and elementary school age kids should be protesting these radical changes.
Anon 7:22 & 9:17,
ReplyDeleteI suspect you are correct. If cutting language in 7th means no AP than that would be falling in line with the schools desire to lower the bar. What's the problem. Don't you realize if you lower the bar more kids succeed. If more kids succeed than more kids will have strong self confidence.
Self confidence that will serve them well as they struggle through community college only to setting into their future roles asking if you want fries with that, or paper or plastic.
There are many quality career opportunities for the well educated, politically correct, environmentally responsible, socially responsible, and racially neutral offspring of the Amherst Regional School system.
(disclaimer, I don't mean the kids who's parents send them to Kumon, Sylvan, hire tutors, home tutor, send them to post graduate year at a prep school and / or have legacies at high level ed institution, etc. Those kids will always have a leg up on the ones forced into some ultra liberal's idea of education.)
Will some one sue this pot head for something? Maybe If the cops search his car they will get lucky and bust him for possession in a school zone.
ReplyDeleteI am not so concerned about Calvin Terrell. I am however very concerned about the proposed changes to the middle school schedule. Not much time for parental input. Why the rush? Why does the decision need to be made in less than 3 weeks. This is what drives us all crazy. No information given until it's too late to have any meaningful input. It's a never ending pattern with this administration. I don't like any part of the proposed changes. They make music mandatory but they sacrifice art altogether. If you want to take a language then you can't take art or drama. Really bad changes. Some kids don't care about music but they are heavily invested in art. Why make one mandatory and make the other nearly impossible to take. Who came up with these ideas? So many changes. Every year we face another huge change in curriculum and schedule changes. And the parents have no input other than to pull their kids. As the parent of an ES school student I am not at all happy. I do though have time to try to figure out other options.
ReplyDeleteLast minute notice to parents about plans that have been in the works for years is a habit of this administration. Parental involvement really just means take out your checkbooks and nothing else.
ReplyDeletethe MS absolutely needs to increase "real" instruction time. I wish some of these changes would have gone into effect this year (like Ms. Dinger thought would happen). The "core skills" class time is an absolute waste of time that should have been parceled back into the core courses after the MS experience with the first year of this policy/curricular decision. Instead the current 8th graders have lost 2 years of important instruction. This cohort continues to bear the brunt of bad decisions and frequent curricular changes. I might object to the lost opportunity for students to have art, except its been pretty mediocre at the MS, so I don't see the big deal.
ReplyDeleteWhat I had hoped though is that the schedule would be simplified for these MS students- will there still be a "week 1" and a "week 2". It appears that the administration deliberately makes scheduling as complicated and mysterious as possible (also true in HS, as I understand it).
Going to see this guy is the equivalent of having your child raped then being asked to come to watch a graphic film on rape. The damage was done Geryk. Pay the guy off for the rest of his guarantee and get rid of him, the same way you will have to get rid of the black teacher that cried 'discrimination' but wasn't. You failed the system, and most of all you failed the children.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the point of this pesceful warrior bullshit? And now a special repeat performance for adults. Please tell me he's performing for free this time. I'm begging you: stop the madness.
ReplyDeleteHow do we say to Maria, "Enough already. Put us out of our misery."?
ReplyDeleteI am appalled at the fact that my current 7th grade child will be forced to take a full year of music next year and risk losing access to art & drama, if he continues to pursue taking Latin. My son is not particularly interested in music instruction at school. We chose not to have him take any music courses. He was over loaded with music in elementary school. Required to take chorus (6th grade)and required to take exploratory music because he didn't have instrumental instruction all in addition to regular music class. He has done his fair share. He is not an artsy kid but has really enjoyed art this year at the MS. This is outrageous. I also find it reprehensible that my current 5th grader will not have the option to take a meaningful world language course of instruction in 7th grade. Nine weeks each of 2 different languages could be an option for some but should not be required for all. What a waste of time for those students that are excited to really get an opportunity to start "learning" a language rather than a token drive by exposure. Pathetic.
ReplyDeleteSome people appall easily.
Delete" What a waste of time for those students that are excited to really get an opportunity to start "learning" a language rather than a token drive by exposure. Pathetic."
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the world of liberal teaching where they all know what's best for your kids, but fail to see that the curriculum will turn out robots who will not function without input and even then will fail to make strides in life. They even give a ridiculous excuse why it's "wrong" to teach the multiplication tables.
Nobody needs math. Computers do all that. Lol. Wait'll the lights go out and noone can long-divide.
DeleteThe warrior isn't doing this for free. Don't confuse this with some kind of open communication with the parents. This guy was promised a sum of money for multiple 'talks' (thank you Amherst college). This will simply count as another so the guy can buy reefer and pay his mortgage.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget the words of Tucson, Az schools public safety officer Robert Barry in a letter to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne urging an investigation of Calvin Terrel:
"There is a spokesman Calvin Terrell who if from African American studies who is telling staff, students, and monitors that the white teacher does not understand the African Americans and that the White man conducted a genocide on the Native Americans.
Also staff have been told they are sitting in Mexico in the auditorium.
He is teaching hate speech with the confidence of the principal and this is not taking place at any other school.
The principal has mandatory attendance with "sub" available in a cash strapped district to attend these classes and PD hours spent on his briefings. There is role playing where the Whites are the root of all evil."
Not to beat a dead horse, but I'd sure like to see the man remove his hat in a public building. Yes. I'm that old-fashioned. I know. I know. It's 2015 and people are so modern. But ladies and gentlemen: decorum.
DeleteThis is the first I have heard about the middle school schedule change but it sounds like there are some misunderstandings floating around here in Blogville.
ReplyDeleteI looked at the document that ARMS has posted on the front page of their web site:
Schedule Change Rationale
along with the chart version of the proposed schedule
New ARMS Schedule (which is actually easier to understand).
I don't see anything to indicate that students won't be able to complete an AP language course. Students can choose to take a full year of language in grade 8. There. Done. Year 1 complete. It does involve making a choice, and the ARMS administrators anticipate that about half of the 8th graders will make that choice. That's about the same percentage taking it now.
Scheduling always involves making a choice and often you do have to give something up. It's not possible to design a schedule that will please everyone. The school can't split kids off into more and more different pathways. It would be inefficient, expensive, and it would sacrifice other goals. So, there will be some people who don't get all of the things that they want. I am not sure why that's an outrage.
Overall, the ARMS students will have more time in core subjects with the new schedule and that is an important component of the rationale for the change. I don't see why some people are characterizing that as lowering the bar.
By the way, there is a fabulous art department at ARHS and students will be able to take art courses all four years in high school if they so choose. Worth waiting for.
The high school schedule is not complicated. Courses meet every day of the week, in the same order: A B C D and E. Even on early release or late arrival days we still have A B C D E. On Advisory days we have A B C D E. Snow delay? A B C D E. Even my ossifying brain can keep that straight.
I can't even read the first sentence of the "Rationale..." without barfing. I've seldom seen such a string of incomprehensible, hyphen-happy goobledygook. I like my kids the way they are. I wish the school (MS) would stop trying to teach them what to think, and just teach them How to think. Is that asking too much? Maybe it is.
Deleteinteresting how those whose comments are most controversial and racist are anons. not surprising to me at all. cowards. boycott what? a person who was requested to come to our town by our youth? why? what are you afraid of? ridiculous. is it because he's black? cmon people.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that your comment is made as an Anon.
ReplyDeleteOnce again accusations of racism are made by someone who points out the man's color. Inever mentioned that at all. Take care of your own racism and I'll worry about mine. I say boycott Mr. Terell because I've heard this nonsense before. Not fear. It's just the exposure to more liberal warrior bullshit. You buy in? You want the kids to buy in too? I don't.
ReplyDeleteRacist? When in doubt accuse someone of being racist. You're the one who points out the man's color. Incidentally I'm black. Did you think I was another color? That's racist, no? I would take care of your own problems with race before you tackle mine.There's no fear involved. It's just this liberal warrior bullshit I object to. You buy in? You want the kids to buy in as well? Well, I don't buy in. And I don't Think they should either. Or you for that matter. That's why I say boycott. Not fear. It's disgust. I've heard his presentations before.
ReplyDelete"a person who was requested to come to our town by our youth? "
ReplyDeleteHa! I just peed my pants laughing. Yeah, they all collected tens of thousands of pennies in a ceremonial cookie jar to get him here.
You must be smoking the same shit as this guy. Let's see a guy whose subtext is that white people are the root of all evil. A guy whose grasp of American history is based on fiction. A guy who is so out of touch with young students, boundaries, and age appropriate context that he caused students to throw up just with his words? A guy who has no formal education in the field and who boasts a resume where his closest work on the subject is working at chain restaurants and department stores as a waiter and salesman. If PT Barnum was black his name would have been Calvin Terrell. You sure your name isn't Calvin Terrell? Because if it isn't then you must be smoking the same peyote as this guy. Wait... Maria Geryk!!!
Is the choice in the elementary schools the same as it was years ago? (my son was at Wildwood)
ReplyDelete"Sing in choir or clean the classroom"
I'm not ashamed to say it: I happen to like my race best. And I promise not to call you a racist if you like yours best as well. Ain't it only natural? You may remember the old slogan "Black is beautiful!" Well yes it is . And so is brown. And so is white. and so is yellow. And so is red. There's nothing wrong with loving your group. Just don't put mine down.
ReplyDeleteNina, some of the rationale behind the ARMS schedule changes is social justice?! The justification for requiring all students to take 2 yrs of music in MS is that some kids come in without any prior exposure/access to music ed. Really? I'm sorry, but we are not saving the world here in Amherst. We can only be responsible for the education of kids once they are here. Music is currently offered as a choice. There you go access provided. We chose not to have our child take a music class and wish to have the choice to focus on other areas again next year. No thank you to forced music and having to choose between a language OR art, drama, movement. Why not the ability to take a language and art. drama, movement rather than forcing music? Maybe you should look more into the proposed changes before you continue to justify the "rationale".
ReplyDeleteNina: If you speak to your colleagues, I think you will find that the Languages, Band and Orchestra instructors all feel that this change will dramatically affect their programs and their students.
ReplyDeleteThonk it will?? Of corse it will. Hey-- We want to honor our kids' invitation to CTerell, let's just ask Them what they wanna be taught. Ms. Cooper's choruses have won first place in the televised competition Together in Song for a couple years in a row . Cmpeting with college and adult choruses as we as other High Schools. Not a small acheivement. I wonder where those kids got their start. Oh I remember now, in the Chorus classes at the MS. And before that. Just want to cut the legs out from under that kind of success? OK. Really?
DeleteAnd then come the Godwinesque Nazi comparisons. Damned if it isn't true! lol
ReplyDeleteI am actually not taking a position pro or con on the middle school schedule. I don't know enough about it. I was looking at the rationale document because I wanted to know what the rationale was. Implementing a new schedule is very, very hard and I hope they wouldn't embark on that difficult journey without a good reason for it.
ReplyDeleteI am sure that there are people who are not happy about the proposed schedule, including teachers, because any change in schedule involves people making sacrifices. There are rarely any win-win moves to be made in scheduling. Someone would need to argue that the gains are worth the sacrifices.
When the high school switched from an 8 period semester schedule to the trimester schedule, we lost an elective block. Some people were definitely unhappy about that. Other people were unhappy about courses meeting for two thirds of the year. If we go to a 7 period semester schedule in two years, we will lose another elective block. The schedule will also become more complicated, with dropped periods and rotation. Again, there would have to be some important gains in order to balance out those negatives.
Nina,
ReplyDeleteThe trimesters as they are done at ARHS are terrible. To have math or language 1,2 followed next year by 2,3 give the students to many months off. The other permutations are just as terrible. The real question about trimesters vs. semesters is why did they ever switch to trimesters in the first place. No one in my 8 years of asking that questions has ever given me an answer or proof to the benefit.
Another fine example of a rudderless ship not steering to the benefit of the children.
That's a good goddamn question.
DeleteAdjust the schedule to support building a standards-based, student-focused, performance task and transfer-oriented, co-taught classrooms, that supports full inclusion and success for all students.
ReplyDeleteThis is the opening sentence of the Rationale. God Almighty!
Is this a joke?
DeleteNina:
ReplyDeleteI thought the high school was switching back to semesters for 2015/16 school year. I hope this is not the case. My student already has hours of homework every night with just having five classes. Not sure how it would all get done with 7 or 8 classes.
Like We did! lol
DeleteAnd that Anon 1043 is one of the reasons that the switch to trimesters was made.
ReplyDeleteNo, the switch is not happening for 2015-2016. To my knowledge, they haven't yet decided on what to switch to. There are many different non-trimester schedules, each with its own pros and cons. Those have to be weighed very carefully.
ReplyDeleteSome ideas for a new schedule were floated internally last year and teachers gave feedback. One of the things I really like about our high school administrators is that they genuinely listen to feedback. I think the characterization of our school as a "rudderless ship" is unfair. That's not my experience at all.
The trimester came about mostly as a way to achieve the following:
1 reduce the number of courses that students focus on at a given time;
2 allow for longer class periods;
3 allow a consistent Monday-Friday schedule
People should be aware that "semesters" could also mean a long block schedule, which is actually very different from the traditional semester schedule where courses run all year long. In the long block, courses run for half a year. Northampton, Easthampton and Frontier are some of the local schools with a long block schedule. It, too, has its pros and cons. I'm sure if we adopt it, people will complain, although I guess they will have to modify the complaint that tells us we should be more like Northampton.
And there we have it. Moving to trimesters is a way to reduce homework for the students. So started the reduction in value of an Amherst High School education.
ReplyDeleteInteresting.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't reduce homework. It reallocates it. The total amount of work over the year is the same. It allows you to focus more on one subject at a time. You have more homework in that one subject than you would if the course was running for a full year. If you had 3 weeks to write a research paper during a full year course, then under the trimester you might have 2 weeks to write that same paper. So the average amount of work you do on the paper is more each night. Some people consider that compression to be a disadvantage. Other people like the idea of having fewer things going in your mind at one time.
ReplyDeleteNote that college schedules are even more compressed. They offer a full course in 4 months. Students typically take 4 or 5 courses at a time. Not 7 or 8.
Where do you see any evidence that there is a reduction in the value of an Amherst education? Kids come back from college all the time and tell us how well-prepared they felt. I would be interested in what evidence you have that the Amherst diploma is less valued now.