Dear Williston Community,
We want to personally thank everyone who has responded to the original email campaign regarding the school re-configuration issue. The response has been wonderful particularly given the 24 hour turn around necessary for responses to appear in the Observer and the fact that this is vacation week and many families are out of town. This is something we should be proud of! We need to keep our momentum moving! (See attached letter which spurred this campaign if you missed it previously.)
We do want to stress that it's not too late to respond! Although the Observer deadline has passed for this week it is still vital that we get as much feedback as possible to the school administration and school board. Your letters can be published in the Observer next week as well. If you have personal anecdotal information to share or wish to present your own views for or against change we urge you to write and to spread the word throughout the community! The ones submitted thus far have been powerful!!
The school board has finally acknowledged Jeff and me and now other responders. However this was not until after I sent a follow up letter asking why they had not even acknowledged receipt of or responded to Jeff's original letter/ Observer article.
FYI: The school board was elected by the people of Williston as our link to the school. Per the Vermont School Board Association (www.vtvsba.org) website "Board members' primary agenda is raising student achievement and involving the community in the attainment of that goal." The Vermont School Board Association has clearly defined frameworks for "raising student achievement through community engagement." This is their elected responsibility and we need to hold them accountable.
The Williston school board has now proposed that there be a community forum with the school board, administration, teachers and community. We, however, would like to propose a separate community forum without the school board, administration and teachers so we can organize our efforts and create a plan of action which will finally result in change. We can discuss our options openly and without interruption or persuasion.
Here are a few additional bits of information for those who may not be fully abreast of the issues:
Per an email to the teachers/staff prior to vacation and leaked to some of the students, the administration has proposed to eliminate both Phoenix house and Verve house next year. Two teachers will also be moved out of Voyager. The 2 ex-Voyager teachers and 2 teachers from disolved houses will be joined to create a new house. One teacher from Phoenix will join Swift to make a 5 teacher team and another teacher will join Full house to make another 5 teacher team. Two teachers from the disolved houses will be paired with the remaining Voyager house. Does this impact you and your child? Of course it does!
One of the 5 teacher teams will have an additional 8th grade group, the other will have an additional 5th grade group. This will create even further educational and social inequity within these houses!! I certainly will not allow my son who will be entering 5th grade in the fall to be in a house with double the amount of 8th graders. Would you??? Ditto for an 8th grader in house with double the amount of 5th graders. This is ludicrous and inequitable!
My 6th grade son currently has over 30 hours more band instruction per year than he does science or social studies! All students at Essex Middle School and Tuttle Middle School in So. Burlington have a full rigorous hour of all core subject areas per day all year long. Williston 5-8th graders have anywhere from 30 minutes a day all year to 50/60 minutes a day for half a year. Our kids are typically 2 years behind in science and social studies by the time they leave WCS! This is not acceptable and is perpetuated by the house system's ineffective and inefficient scheduling inequities.
There is no data out there that supports this model of education because this model does not exist outside of our school district! It's time to enter the 21st century.
Lastly I feel compelled to say, with full protection our my First
Amendment Rights as Americans, that Jeff and I
consciously chose to go public with our concerns because history in this town has proven time and time and time again that there is NO accountability within our school system. This fight for re-configuration has surfaced innumerable times over the years only to be shut down by some well established, well polished and very powerful teachers. Even if you are not
familiar with this history we all need to seriously ask why it keeps coming up over and over and over again!!! The
press is our assurance of accountability and we have an inalienble right to express ourselves through any medium of our choosing.
Keep writing! Keep spreading the word! Keep fighting! We'll keep you in touch. Let us know if you wish to help us accomplish this goal. Also please let us know if you would like to stop receiving these emails.
Thank you!
ANN and Jeff Smith
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
School Configuration Update (4/22/2008)
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5 comments:
I feel sorry for you that you don't want your 5th grade son to be paired with so many 8th graders, but try to imagine what it feels like for those of us with kids who will be in the 8th grade in the fall. We are going to have to tell our sons/daughters that the friends that they have made over the last 3 years will not be with them any longer because their house if about to be dissolved. It sounds a lot like some people don't care how these changes effect other peoples' children... only their own.
I have read your comment several times over and each time I interpret it in a different way. What it does say to me though is that your son is suffering or going to suffer socially because of the inherent pitfalls of the house system and not because of the efforts of this campaign.
If your son was in a "normal" or "typical school" system where ALL children were mixed up EACH year, with their age/grade matched peers then this it wouldn't be an issue at this stage of his life. If this mixing started in Kindergarten think of how large of a circle of friends our children would have!
Does your son know every other boy in his current grade? I would very much doubt it. I think this is one of the real injustices and sad things about our current structure. Our kids don't know their classmates! There are kids that get to CVU who have never met other Williston kids in their class!! You can bet the kids from Shelburne, Charlotte and Hinesburg know each other! I knew every kid in my class by the time I was in 4th grade!
Something to ponder. Thanks.
I am responding to the person who wrote a response to my original note... You are kind of smug telling me how my son wouldn't be affected had he gone to a school where the students were all mixed each year. I'd be willing to bet that you don't have a son or daughter who is about to be separated from his or her friends. These kids have been together for a long time and you can't even begin to understand the emotional turmoil that this will cause a group of kids who are nearing the end of their middle school years. Most kids at this stage of life are very emotional and need the support of the peers that they have grown with. You were not sitting at my kitchen table when I told my children that Verve was most likey going to be cut, so asking me if my son would be OK had he gone to a school that was more "typical" is ridiculous. He didn't go to a school that was more typical so for that he will be made to go off into another house and most likely leave many of his friends behind. I guess it's OK with you if my son has to suffer this emotional turmoil as long as your son or daughter isn't affected.
Well, if you had bet me then you would have lost your bet! My daughter is in Phoenix and we just 'officially' learned that her house is being dissolved today. Your child is not the only one affected by these changes. I think you may be 'shooting the messenger' here. The team who formed this blog and are leading this effort did NOT advocate, nor do they agree with many of the changes currently being made in the upper houses. However, given that the budget as passed by the town this year means that 4 teachers positions are being eliminated, some change HAS to happen. Given that change will happen, we are not satisfied with how the current reconfiguration was determined, the lack of involvement by parents and community, and how it is being implemented. We want a say in how the change will happen. Please consider attending the forum next week to learn more.
Hope this helps,
- Kevin
I am responding to the original comment...I completely agree with you! SOME people just don't seem to care do they?
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