Tension, even mistrust, has intensified. Parents and superintendent David Aderhold have lamented the increasing tension within the community over the proposed changes to the accelerated and enriched (A&E) math program and other curriculum changes intended to better address students’ emotional needs. There has been high attendance at board meetings ever since the district presented its recommendation to modify components of the A&E program in September. At the meetings there has been a noticeable divide, as a high proportion of those disagreeing with the curriculum changes are parents from the Asian community.
At the November 17 board meeting, high school South PTA president Micki Kermani expressed shock at the “disrespectful letters in our newspaper.”
Added Kermani: “I’m actually very surprised at the level of animosity in our room.”
After residents had finished making public comments at the board meeting, Aderhold called some parent comments unfair and based on misinformation.
“It’s not fair. Parents are sounding off on topics which we are [already] doing. You have to be a partner.”
In addition, Aderhold asked the community to stop fear mongering. He said he has also received personal attacks, including accusations of not listening, creating a system of mediocrity, and of being a racist.
“It is intensely personal,” Adherhold said. “I did not come to West Windsor Plainsboro to destroy your property value. Anyone who believes differently can put your house on the market. The market of this district is not going down.”
Those in support of making no changes to the A&E program also expressed alarm.
“How come all of a sudden, the A&E program has become demonized? Everyone is for the Whole Child, reducing stress, and serving more students,” said Ming Pan, now a regular board meeting attendee, during public comments. He said that A&E students seem to have been cast as problem makers, as students who take Kumon classes and make other students suffer.
Helen Yin told the board she has lived in Plainsboro for the past 18 years without incident.
“Now I see people having arguments,” she said. “We use ethnic imbalance as a reason to remove a program. This is not why I moved to this country.” (See Yin’s letter, page 8.)
One interaction during the meeting shed light on the atmosphere at the board meetings. Aderhold said ethnicity was not a reason for the A&E redesign and he cited press reports for spreading misinformation. “That was a reporting issue,” Aderhold says. “It was presented and twisted in the reporting.”
Shortly after hearing this, one resident, Mike Jia, interrupted Aderhold and asked him to clarify his statements.
In response Aderhold declined to repeat himself, adding “I see you recording.”
At that point another parent in the audience, Zhigang Zhang, turned around to the person sitting behind him, revealing a printout of the sixth slide from the district’s internal G&T report presented in September. On the slide, three bullet points were listed underneath the recommendation to “redesign the math program in grades 4 and 5,” and the last one read “gender and ethnic imbalance.”
In the second round of public comments towards the end of the meeting, Jia said he had listened to a replay of his recording, and said the district’s internal G&T report contradicts Aderhold’s statements.(See Jia’s letter, page 7.)
In response to another parent’s mention of the cultural divide and unfortunate negativity, board president Tony Fleres said, “Seeing my daughter with her friends I’ve noticed when it comes to diversity, our kids are better at it than adults.”
Less than a week after the November 17 meeting, the superintendent announced via E-mail a Town Hall Meeting to hold a community conversation and clarify misinformation. The Monday, December 7, event is at 7 p.m. at High School South. Attendees must register at www.ww-p.org
“I am saddened by the unrest and division that has become all too evident in our community,” Aderhold wrote in the E-mail. “I ask that as we step forward in dialogue and conversation, we are mindful in how we treat one another in disagreement.”
Various petitions have also recently been launched online at www.change.org. Save Our WW-P Schools has garnered several hundred signatures, and the petition requests the reinstatement of midterm and finals exams, the preservation of A&E math for grades four and five, as well as opposition to changes in the music curriculum and to the number of resource teachers, supervisors, and administrators that have been hired since 2013. Another petition with hundreds of signatures, Save Our WW-P Students, was created one day later and emphasizes the need to address student stress in the district. A third petition advocates the video taping of board meetings for public dissemination.
