We have seen an exodus of good teachers from WW-P schools recently. One problem is the district administration is not making an effort to retain good teachers. As an example, just look at how a beloved art teacher was let go recently even though there were massive protests from students and parents.
Another problem is teachers’ inputs have been largely left out of the decision making process on many important curriculum changes, and administrative orders are interfering with their teaching. The elimination of midterm and final exams is just another example. Teacher morale is probably at an all-time low.
For years the WW-P district has attracted families of all backgrounds because of its excellent schools. Property values held up well and even climbed steadily at a time the economy and the general housing market was slowing down. The district’s reputation of quality education is not only in its academic rigor, but also in the variety and quality of offerings in sports, music and arts. For example, the orchestra and band programs are among the best in New Jersey.
This kind of success is in no small part due to the great efforts of many of the wonderful teachers. The music teachers, for example, are top notch musicians themselves. They understand what it takes to achieve excellence and to maximize potential. They set the bar high for the students. They work diligently with every student to demonstrate that everyone can achieve his/her best with discipline and hard work. Students and parents cherish the music programs and love the music teachers dearly.
But to the surprise of students, teachers, and parents, they found chamber music in grades 4-5 had been cut when the schools started last month. Advanced players were forced to drop out of the superb string program. Also earlier this year, music teachers were literally ordered to stop requiring students to pass the concert pieces before playing at the school concerts, a good tradition and discipline for decades that has been key to the quality and the success of music education. Teachers are particularly unhappy with the administration about this kind of direct and blunt interference with their teaching. This is a slap in their faces. But what can teachers do other than to “agree” (quoting the word from our superintendent at last BOE meeting) to the orders from above?
How our money, taxpayers’ money, is being spent is yet another big problem. At a time we need to direct our resources to train, to retain, and to hire good teachers, which can be done economically and efficiently, the district is instead embarking on a much more costly project to equip each student with a Chromebook computer that does more harm than good. That is a lot of money to waste, considering the planned expansion and the ongoing maintenance of this program.
Our excellent schools and those quality programs were built and developed through decades of delicate efforts from teachers, students, parents and previous administrations. We should never take them for granted. All the good things can start falling apart rather rapidly if we don’t stop those damaging changes that are happening in this district. We don’t want to see our taxes go up and our property values go down. We don’t want to see good teachers leave and our children hurt. It is time to invest more in people, not machines, and to spend our money frugally and efficiently.
Mike Jia
West Windsor
