Merging Middle School into High School does not seem to be going well
The public schools can't seem to do anything right these days.
The "Hurricane Revisioning Summit" on Saturday unconvered overwhelming opposition to merging the Middle School into the High School for budgetary reasons and the Amherst School Committee recently backed away from voting on the administrations request for an expensive shiny new mega school. At least until January.
And the Regionalization expansion from grades 7-12 all the way down to kindergarten seems more and more unlikely -- especially since it only takes one town of the four to vote no. Something Shutesbury seems destined to do.
On Halloween, appropriately enough, I published an exchange between Amherst Regional Middle School Principal Mendonsa and former teacher now parent of a child in the system Alfie Alschuler. Since over 5,000 read the exchange I figured you would be interested in his follow up.
Let the conversation continue ...
Click to enlarge/read
We are now facing a grim prospect: what if we hold a School Committee election and nobody runs?
ReplyDeleteRich Morse
Teacher needs work on grammar and usage!!!
ReplyDeleteOh yes. That's what's important: grammar.
DeleteI think it is cute that you thought that they ever did anything right.
ReplyDeleteOverpriced (by 2-3 fold), over-coordinated, under-performing institutes of job welfare at the cost of your kids' education.
Yeah, anyone have a lifetime to fail at fixing this, like all those who have worked in there to date? The cool part is everyone will pretend you are doing a good efficient job most of the time and the parents really are willing to sacrifice their kids for this. Pretty cool opportunity.
What if no one ran for the school board, if only! The kids have parents who can teach them even more, we can lower taxes once the school is gone, actually by quite a bit and allow one parent to stay with the kids and they will be fine, actually far better.
Are you upset with Shutesbury? I am glad that Shutesbury is saying "No.".
ReplyDeleteNot at all.
ReplyDeleteYou can always count on a hilltown (well some of them anyway) to tell it like it is.
Good Job Alfie!
ReplyDeleteYou hit the nail on the head!
He certainly seems to know "What's it all about."
ReplyDeleteSaw this in a previous post - Anonymous Anonymous said...Heard that MS teacher, who was excellent, didn't leave because of the coaching model - he took a position as a coach in another district. He also cotaught for a very long time, so that could not have been it either. Wondering if it was a peer/colleague issue as has been suggested in the rumor mill or if he didn't like the level of accountability and taking constructive criticism. ???? November 6, 2015 at 5:30 PM
ReplyDeleteLarry, is any of this true? And, if so, how can Alfie Schular "...certainly seem to know what is it all about."
Things have not been going well at the MS for years. Gimme a break! Just read Larry's blog over time to see that. It's a chronical of the history of community/parent issues with the curriculum, leadership, etc. As well as complaints about teacher performance and accountability. Getting dizzy and not sure what or who to believe any more. Maybe a state take over is what we need???
As far as I have heard, the workshop model is just good teaching and has been around a very long time but wasn't call that formally; and who really wants teachers in front of our kids using a didactic instruction approach all day.
At the end of the day, teachers are employees and required to teach - not all of them do well with that and some of the student success stories are not because of them - likely innate ability, effort, ability, parenting, supplemental tutoring, etc.
Shular and Peter Demling guy are part of a wide scale Amherst problem of subterfuge and undermining behaviors. Why didn't Shular approach the principal before he went to the newspaper?
Will people be happy with yet another administrator at the MS? If this comes down to a vote of no-confidence, I don't want my son there next year for whatever that is worth.
Signing off as one frustrated parent!
Can ANYONE ((I'm begging you) explain the discipline policy. Or is that word deemed too oppressive by these lefties? Is it true that the policy is racist in that it turns a more or less blind eye towards the infractions committed by those "of color."
DeleteThe MS has always just been something to get through on your way to the high school.
ReplyDeleteNo one I've spoken with from ARHS likes the idea of the little kids coming to school with them. I know that democracy doesn't rule, though. It's more of a totalitarian thing here.
DeleteBring back Mr. Burrito or a reasonable facsimile thereof. Amherst 7th and 8th grades were excellent for a time. He was brought in to clean up an out of control system, did his job and left after some parents made his life untenable.
ReplyDeleteAs Cap'n Hood leeeeeeans back
ReplyDeletepicking his teeth with a golden toothpick.
WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
-Squeaky Squeaks
p.s. No really, it's fine.
Who is Mr. Burrito?
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anon 2:25 because I've had 2 kids go through ARMS. It is really just a holding pattern until you get to High School. Perhaps you learn how to hand in your HW on time, perhaps you don't. But you don't learn how to study. The teachers are great though - the kids love them, they seem to really care about the kids and be into their jobs. Betsy Dinger was a great principal - everyone seemed to love her, from the kids to the teachers. (Summary: Kids feel supported, while they go through the social angst of becoming teenagers, The go-getters will do fine, the ones who want to coast will do so too). This new principal - no one seems to like her. Why is that OK? I'm not saying that everyone should have only their favorites around them, But when the consensus amongst the staff seems pretty universal, you have to listen to the long-time staff, or at least make an effort to do so. I know both Alfie Alschuler and Peter Demling personally, and know that they really truly have the interests of the staff and the kids at the forefront. Neither are trouble-makers; both truly have good intentions to make the school system the best it can be, for all the kids.
ReplyDeleteWhen my kids attended, the Middle School was loosey goosey and the high school was a penitentiary
ReplyDeleteSomewhat related... fact of the matter is this: Fort River elementary school is an environmental hazard and the school board wants to do ANYTHING to include FR in the school-rebuild project because they fear lawsuits from teachers and students. They fear that Fort River is making people physically ill and their fears may be well-founded.
ReplyDeleteWhen my kids attended the MS was a penitentiary and the HS was loosey goosey. The MS experience was absolutely awful for my kids. I used to tell them if they could get through the MS (known as the Jr High Back then) they could get through any thing in life.
ReplyDeleteApparently no one can explain the MS discipline policy. Okay. No longer expecting an explanation of it, but can anyone (someone) simply at least Articulate it?
ReplyDeleteTo 10:40 am,
ReplyDeleteDid you try writing the principal and asking her your questions about the discipline policy? I think that might be the most direct route.
The general idea is that when a student acts up, the teacher should reflect how the teacher's interaction could improve to get a different result. Admin. afraid of penalizing students due to litigious parents who objected to even mild discipline/ie. lunch detentions, during the school day. Why write kids up or send them to the office when they will be right back. PBIS run amok (positive behavioral intervention).
ReplyDeleteAnon 10:17 PM - Who said none of the teachers at the Middle School like the principal? Gosh, the assumptions on this blog are just awful and plain ole not true. Stop spreading false rumors!! How long was Dinger principal? Something must have drove her out! Could it have been the staff? parents? Ugh, just stop the madness, please! Let the principal do her job!
ReplyDeleteOkay. I Like the principal. Don't like the left-wing policies.
DeleteThanks 12:14. I had heard that the (non) policy was based largely on race, in that teachers were to kind of ignore infractions by non -whites. That would, of course, make it racist, no?
ReplyDeleteLarry - Trying to identify the administrators at the Middle School for the past 10 or so years. Can you help here? What do you think this means?
ReplyDeleteMary Cavalier & Fran Ziperstein (??)
Fran Ziperstein & Chris Collins (1 year?)
Fran Ziperstein & Michael Hayes (2 years?)
Michael Hayes & Betsy Dinger (2 years?)
Betsy Dinger & Michael Malone (1 yr)
Marisa Mendonza & Michael Malone (1 yr)
Marisa Mendonza (this year)
I do wonder with all the continued challenges the MS faces (and has faced for a long time) why the SI chose not to fund a vice-principal? While it is true that MS is inherently painful, some schools (particularly private but including some public) manage to make it less hellish. I would like to see data (foreign concept to the current Admin) showing that PBIS is being an effective tool for behavior modification. From a parent perspective, it seems a failure and that kids (both perps and bystanders) are learning quickly that anything goes...BTW: Ms Dinger left for entirely legit personal reasons and parents were very sad to see her go (and wish her the best).
ReplyDeleteAh, I recall Mr. Hayes being picked because he was local and in it for the long run. So committed. I could not believe that they passed over the candidate that had a great track record including turning around a school in a different state. Sigh.
ReplyDelete3:23
ReplyDeleteGlenda Cresto, 1 year
I am interested in the survey being used currently, mentioned near the end of last night's school board meeting, that includes students' perceptions in their classrooms and of their teachers. If the results of an anonymous survey of teachers is good enough for one or two parents to harass and try to oust an admin, then an anonymous survey of students should help us figure out which teachers suck so we can get rid of them. My guess is the teachers the kids find ineffective are the same ones that spend days talking trash to angry parents behind their bosses backs about not wanting to be observed and evaluated.
ReplyDeleteMORE evaluations please of these adults my kids spend days and weeks and years with.
Why would you put stock in middle schoolers' assessment of your performance? Ludicrous.
Deletecan someone explain why Amherst (and the hilltowns) is paying the salaries of our school administration to work out deals with GCC (and LSSE) to host their classes in our MS building when the district will only receive costs reimbursements for associated utilities? How does this arrangement benefit our students' education? I want our administrators time and effort to be spent 100% on the huge challenges of improving our students' education.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that the reason for the constant turmoil, poor relationship with every school board, keeping parents out of major decisions and the constant turnover in school administrators is due to the superintendent's poor leadership skills? Will it just be years of the same under this command? What happens to the students-remember them?
ReplyDeleteAnon 10:16 - Highly unlikely that you can rest all ills at the superintendent's feet unless you are willing to rest all of the successes at the same time. Does not seem like anyone is willing to attribute the later so don't bother with the former.
ReplyDeleteThe MS does not need another new administrator. This one is remarkably intelligent and everything she believes in is about how to make education better for our students.
The turn over is a reflection of parents, staff and administration. Our community needs to unify to support each other and our chosen person and help her through tough times. We need to invest and not undermine.
How does one measure what have been successes and failures by our school leaders? I see no public evaluation or reporting on the effectiveness of new initiatives. I see some get dropped quietly from the budget in subsequent years and some stay. MCAS scores are meaningless in my mind. I would be certainly willing to credit the superintendent if I knew what she was actually accomplishing. I think there in lies the source of some of the discontent. We, as a group of tax payers, are never told the result of initiatives. Teachers and parents are not involved in any process where feedback and concerns are address with being dismissed. I do not feel like either subgroup should have the final word on a matter but, their input must be considered.
ReplyDeleteBy the way-- what have the results of this discipline policy?
DeleteWhat are the successes?
ReplyDeleteAnon 3:21 - groups of M.S. graduates unused to being held accountable being unleashed on the high school.
ReplyDeleteThx 9:55. Your response hints that the discipline policy is somehow different at the high school. Is that the case?
ReplyDeleteAnon. 9:28. Used to be. Now suffering from similar lack of willingness/authorization to give consequences to disruptive students. Very difficult to manage classes under these conditions.
ReplyDeleteDiscipline? Our little angels?
ReplyDelete