Concerns addressed to the Accreditation Committee of the NEASC

Before I share the thoughts and concerns of myself, students, parents and citizens with the Accreditation Committee of the NEASC, I must make clear that these concerns are NOT a referendum on our teachers--Morse teachers are very dedicated, talented and capable professionals who have imparted great learning in interested students; these concerns are a referendum on both our administration’s and school board’s communication and policy.   These are serious concerns shared by many parents and citizens regarding our local and state education system.  We have high and well achieving students at Morse and it is our goal to bring the rest of the student population up to the standards of these students.   We do not want to reduce the quality of our education by manipulating the curriculum and paradigms to enable students to graduate without the basics (i.e. unable to read, write or perform basic math calculations). 

I.   Communication – The School Board and Administration exhibits a pervasive disregard for the most basic communication and transparency. 

A.      Lack of administrator communication with parents/taxpayers and students

1.  Notice of event often ‘day of’ or ‘day before’ via “InfiniteCampus” email or NONE

2.  Notice of schedule change to 4X4 was June 2010 (last week of school) for Sept 2010 implementation.

3.  School Board Agendas improperly posted, not posted in advance of meeting, no longer published in newspaper, etc.

4.  Requests by parents/taxpayers to be included in agenda are ignored/denied.

5.  Student petition of 220+ students to Principal and School Board Chair regarding schedule change to 4X4 acknowledged then ignored.   Parent petition also ignored.

6.  Notice of events targeted to perceived interested parties rather than community as a whole.

7.  Minutes from School Board and SAG meetings are written by administrators and not by professional secretaries/recorders; often resulting in a self-serving PR piece and not an accurate representation of discussions and concerns expressed by dissenting participants.

                B.   Lack of administrator communication with teachers

                       1.  Mid-term exams cancelled in 2009 – teachers couldn’t answer    parent’s questions because the administration hadn’t informed them

                       2.  Teachers did not know about move to 4X4 until April 2010 -- not enough time to change syllabus, learn new teaching methodologies (no instruction provided, either), etc. to  prepare/implement such a dramatic change.

               

II.  Curriculum & Paradigms

A.   No transparency in curriculum decisions/considerations.  (Should be committee comprised of faculty members, community members and area academics like Bowdoin College faculty in addition to administrators and should not be reserved exclusively for administrators.)

B.   Administration/School Board not responsive to parent/taxpayer requests for information and input into curriculum.

C.   Published goals of School Board and Administration do not align with those of parents/taxpayers.

D.   Administration expects teachers to monitor “independent study” courses for students unable to take course due to schedule conflicts inherent in 4X4 Block but does not carry schedule space for “independent study” in student or teacher blocks.

III.  Schedule

A.    Implemented without teacher training in block methodologies

B.   Class periods exceed attention span

C.   Compressed curriculum and accelerated pace make course more difficult for students – increases stress not learning

D.   No time to refresh skills from prerequisite courses (i.e. start Algebra II in middle of book when most students’ last math class was Geometry with no refresher of Algebra I taken over a year previous)

E.    All courses not offered all periods/all semesters.  Many courses taken by same type student conflict requiring student to take lesser/greater-challenging course to make schedule work; this is resulting in students taking more “independent study” options.

F.    Too much increase in homework and still compromised curriculum

G.   Leaves students stuck in remedial courses (i.e. student receiving ‘straight As’ in remedial program seeking move to regular classes was told “not possible under this schedule, class too accelerated for remedial learner”.)

H.   Morse has continued to fail to meet AYP and the scores are increasingly worse, not better, in the 3+ years of this administration which coincide with the block schedule implementation (all formats).  It is not possible to truly assess this principal cumulatively with regard to AYP and schedule, because this schedule was foisted on Morse prior to the principal’s arrival.  He is, however, at the helm for the move to the 4X4, which has not yet been assessed at AYP.