Criteria Suggestions for Frameworks Committee Community Forum

We hope you have all been well informed about the upcoming Frameworks Community Forum this Monday, November 24th from 6-8pm in the WCS cafeteria. We want to reinforce how important this meeting is and encourage everyone to come and express what you value most for our schools. This meeting WILL make a difference and WILL be an important part of the decision making process of the Frameworks Committee. (Click read more to continue reading this post.)

In preparation for Monday's Community Forum, we recommend you read the information emailed to you from school on Friday.

One of the 3 main things you will be asked to do on Monday night is to come up with any additional criteria which are important for you regarding configuration and then prioritize them. The criteria which the Frameworks Committee and the teachers have come up with are on the email you received on Friday and are also posted below on our blog. Several criteria are clearly universal and would be expected of/could fit any configuration considered. Others are clearly more favorable of the current house system, while others support a different/new configuation.

You will be asked to vote on the top ten criteria you value most. We suggest you vote for those which will make the biggest impact and NOT ones which are universal.

As supporters of change, we feel the following criteria support a change and we encourage you to consider them a part of your top ten. (Please feel free to print these out for Monday night.)

1. More frequent transitions in school will expose students to different teaching styles and peer groupings and will better prepare them to adapt to changes in their environment. (Change is constant in the 21st Century...let's practice it.)

2. Configuration allows for grade based curriculum rotations which are consistent with other local school districts for ease of transitions with transfers. (All 8th graders study US history in most schools...our kids should too.)

3. Configuration should promote pride and teamwork in students' class/grade as well as their school. (Class pride vs "house" pride and/or competition.)

4. All students of a given grade must have equal access to all services/experiences. (All students of one grade under one roof with the same library, music/chorus, PE, art options...)

5. Configuration must minimize inequality within the district. (Equal opportunity for all students.)

6. Allows for regular planning time for teaching teams both within a grade and within a subject. (Reduces duplication of services and allows teachers to learn from and support each other.)

7. Allows for grouping students by ability levels within a grade for specific subject areas. (e.g.: all 6th graders have reading, and math at the same time so students can be grouped by ability level with their grade matched peers.)

8. Students are grouped with a wide variety of same age/grade and gender matched peers both academically and socially throughout their K-8 education. (Students in each grade are randomly mixed up regularly [1x/year or 1x/2years...] to expand friendships and academic ties.)

9. Allows upper grade teachers to focus on their subject strengths and reduces the number of curriculum areas they must master. (Teachers can focus on 1 or 2 subjects/grade spans instead of 4 grades and/or multiple subject areas.)

10. Configuration must be flexible enough to readily accommodate fluctuations in student population over time. (Population fluctuations are a consistent issue and resulted in extremely poor configuration decisions this year.)

If you are unable to attend the forum and wish for your ideas/input to be known and perhaps counted, we encourage you to contact the Frameworks Facilitator, Mary Jane Shelley, maryjane@trifocalconsulting.com . We do not know if she/they will consider votes sent in by email, but we do know that they welcome your input/feedback. We would hope that your votes will count whether you can attend or not. Please include your name, address and phone number to authenticate yourself as a Williston Community Member when emailing.

Your opinion is valuable. We hope to see you on Monday night whether you agree or disagree with our ideas.

Thank you.