During my two and half year tenure on the WW-P School Board, the board has approved many changes. I have been mostly supportive of this change. Some of the more controversial changes have included:
Restricting the use of option 2 courses.
Discontinuance of mid-term exams, and the replacement of “final exams” with end-of-year assessments.
Redesign of Advanced and Enriched math at the 4th and 5th grade level.
On the other hand, I have pushed the administration to change their thinking about the following:
Careful and deliberate long term facilities planning.
Assessing our class sizes at all grade levels (no changes were made).
Seeking smaller year-over-year budget increases.
Going forward, I have asked the administration to consider some additional changes:
Removing some AP class prerequisites, such as the requirement to take regular or honors Chemistry before taking AP Chemistry.
Adopting salary ranges for non-represented staff.
One notable change I have pushed for since arriving on the board in early 2014, is improvement to the special needs program. The administration has responded and is working to improve the program.
However, this change takes time. While the district has made progress in the last two years, they acknowledge that more change is needed.
If re-elected, I will continue to push for this change.
I raise all this to point out that we need change. While we may not always like, or agree with change, it is how people make progress. Even in education, we need change for progress. Both as adults and students, we are competing in a global world. Change helps us to keep up and stay ahead of our global peers.
Help West Windsor-Plainsboro stay at the forefront of education, vote for board candidates who support change, not candidates who want to turn back the clock.
The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the position of the West Windsor-Plainsboro School Board.
Scott Powell
West Windsor
Powell is a candidate for the WW-P School Board
