Ahead of a December 15 school board vote on the proposed redesign of the Accelerated & Enriched (A&E) math program, more than 60 parents were in attendance at the November 17 board meeting, and a majority of them took the opportunity to express their views.
Numerous parents, as well as South principal Dennis Lepold, voiced support for superintendent David Aderhold’s emphasis on the “Whole Child,” while other parents sought to preserve what they view has been a successful math curriculum option.
After the public comments Aderhold spoke at length on various curriculum changes (see sidebar, page 11) and the need to respond to the district’s “stress crisis.” He first addressed A&E, emphasizing he did not hear a single good reason why it should not be redesigned.
“Why can’t we both support socio-emotional health and academic excellence? Why are these mutually exclusive?” Aderhold said. “Our A&E teachers will tell you that an enriched environment can be provided to all children. I question why we are holding on so dearly to A&E.”
The redesign of the A&E program presented at the November 3 meeting would phase out the grades four and five components of the A&E program, which runs through eighth grade. Instead of being separated into math and A&E math classes, there would be differentiated instruction, or flexible skill-level grouping within a heterogeneous classroom. The two A&E math positions for grades four and five would be eliminated, and one teacher resource specialist position for math would be created to aid teachers with implementing differentiated learning.
If the board approves the A&E redesign resolution next month, fourth grade A&E classes will be discontinued for the 2016-’17 school year. Rising fifth graders currently in fourth grade A&E will continue with the program, and a redesigned A&E screening process assessing all fifth graders will be implemented in the 2017-’18 school year. Currently parents can nominate children for a single entrance exam as early as third grade.
Echoing concerns raised at the previous board meeting, several parents requested additional information on the differentiated learning model. There were also suggestions of implementing differentiated learning while maintaining A&E math programs, and then comparing which curriculum is superior.
“I support differentiated learning. It doesn’t make sense to educate 95 percent of kids not in A&E in a homogenous way,” said Zhigang Zhang. “When testing new drugs, you don’t throw away the old one. Parallel trials look at superior options.”
Board member Yingchao Zhang also supported grouping students in differentiated learning settings, and he again suggested a more delayed A&E phase out, which would provide a “transition and grace period” that would allow more “community input.”
“We want to keep education excellence and reduce stress. This can show the community it’s possible.”
Board member and curriculum committee chair Dana Krug noted her fifth grade daughter’s math classes have been doing clustered differentiated learning.
Several parents also did not see how district changes were related to reducing student stress, instead advocating for support programs that would address stress.
“What’s the cause of the stress?” Bill Huang asked. “A&E is only five percent of the kids, but stress affects all kids. ”
“We agree Whole Child should be important and we should do everything we can to reduce stress. Counselors are best equipped to do this,” Carol Herts said. “What does that have to do with taking a final exam or reducing math programs?”
Many parents emphasized the unhealthy environment students endure in school.
“I don’t understand why if A&E is eliminated in grades four and five, that students won’t be successful in life,” Robyn Mitchell said. On a recent college visit with her child she recounted being told the school was “competitive but supportive, and this was something we don’t get in high school.”
Jennifer Howard said the Millburn school district eliminated a similar elementary school program years ago, “and their students are doing quite well.”
Parents also spoke directly in support of Aderhold.
Millstone PTA co-president Loren Strapp voiced support for Aderhold and the revised A&E program.
Another parent, Jim D’Ovidio, praised Aderhold’s courage, saying “It’s easy to swim with the current.
In addition to parent support, South principal Dennis Lepold and several district administrators also attended the meeting. Lepold referenced Aderhold’s October letter to the community and noted seeing students with suicidal ideation over grades.
“For the first time in 25 years, I feel like we really got it right. I have to live every day with students in the guidance office, where I’m calling out for help for them,” Lepold said. “What are we doing to our students? I love all 1,600 kids who come through. If you don’t have your mental health, it doesn’t matter how good your technical skills are. I know my administrators’ association applauds the superintendent as well.”
After the more than three dozen public comments, Aderhold said the situation is urgent and emphasized the district can provide a program for all children.
“Someone indicated changes have risk, but so does inaction. There is a sickness, illness in our community. Hyper-competitiveness and a race to nowhere. This is intensely personal for the 9,700 students I’m responsible for in the district,” he said.
In response to parents who see no link between the upper elementary A&E program and the high-pressure student atmosphere, Aderhold said no student trajectory is impacted by changes at the upper elementary school level. Improvement and reducing stress would be effected through changing curriculum structures without delay, such as the A&E redesign.
“I know no administrator in favor of starting A&E in fourth grade, with hundreds of students taking standardized tests as an entry point and benchmark,” Aderhold said.
“There is a stress crisis in this community. The pressure of Ivy League or bust is real. As a school community we have to find balance. It goes down to the lower grades. Upper elementary school is not middle school. Students are 9 and 10 years old. It is not appropriate to start testing mills in third grade.”
Added Aderhold: “I’m talking about the evolution of a system beginning in the fourth grade. There’s your connection. The growth over time of a system, and by the sixth grade we have kids slicing themselves. It’s not acceptable where we sit back and say what’s the metric? It’s a community problem. There are parents making decisions against Whole Child. I’m not going to sit back, we don’t have the five years to give. That’s how big the crisis is.”
Board member Scott Powell asked for the community to trust the administration as well as the board.
“You need to trust we’re going to hold the administration accountable,” Powell says. He noted community members have asked for curriculum measures, such as “how change in program reduces stress, and how they will have more enriching experiences.”
#b#Curriculum Committee update.#/b# Board member Dana Krug also announced several changes to next academic year’s high school curriculum. New business courses include Marketing, Engineering: Architecture Design & Fabrication, and AP Computer Science Principles (in addition to AP Computer Science A).
AP Psychology has also been added, and AP Government & Politics has been split into AP American Government and AP Comparative Government & Global Studies. Latin IV has been eliminated, completing the phaseout of the Latin program.
