Another Controversial School Board Decision

A month or so ago I blogged a complaint about how the NC state legislature put a limit on the school calendar. (not-good-decision-governor-easily) Well the Durham School board stuck their foot in it again. The difference is, this time, I actually agree with it, for the most part.

Karen and I attended an information session at the High School last night. David Christenbury, principal of Jordan High School and Patrick Rhodes, Executive Director for High School Curriculum and Instructional Services for Durham Public Schools, presented the new "4x4 Block Scheduling" program the majority of the Durham High Schools will be adopting next year. The presentation was well attended by probably 350 parents and even a few students.

The new schedule format is basically this; Students would take four, ninety minute classes each semester instead of the six, fifty-five minute full year classes they take currently. A net gain of 2 additional classes per year.

I won't go into great detail of the pros and cons of the new schedule format. The reasons the school board is giving for the new schedule format can be found here.

The meeting opened with a presentation of the problems the school and the district in general is facing as far as academics, drop out rates, failure rates etc.. The crowd was quiet but impatient for the main presentation, their charges, arguments and complaints at the ready. Once the presentation of the new schedule format began the crowd unleashed their volley of complaints and pointed questions. The principal did a reasonable job of containing the questions, indicating that most, if not all the issues being raised would be addressed in the upcoming presentation. And indeed the issues raised were not new to anyone in the room and were addressed at some level by the slides. Specific details like how AP courses would be implemented on the semester calendar when the AP tests must be taken in May, have not been finalized. But a good generalized plan for moving forward was presented.

I do not know how many slides the principal prepared but after probably 75 minutes of presentation and constant interruption and even heckling, one parent stood and yelled "How much longer are you going to talk? We want to get to our questions." I, personally, about lost it. If the parents would just shut up and let the presenters speak maybe the answers would be forth coming. The principal at that point said "Fine." He shut of the projector, indicated he would field general question but requested specific questions about your child's circumstances be taken off line. Let the rants begin.

You know what happened after that. The parents laid into the both of them for "jeopardizing their child's education" and asking questions about how their son or daughter could take AP course Blah if Blah blah blah....

In all fairness many of the parents concerns were valid but the details are yet to be worked out. Much of the rest of the noise from the parents was centered on not moving forward with the new scheduling format. To me, that ship has sailed. There was no need to waste my time or the rest of the crowds time with bickering over something that is mute.

I think this plan has good potential. I can see that Kyle will benefit greatly. With all of the required courses, with the current format, he would not be able to take 4 years of band or any other elective courses. It does change Tyler's plans for next year. He will actually have an extra elective or two that he will need to figure out what to do with. Technically he could even graduate in January if he wanted to.

I went to the meeting, understanding that, for the most part, the block scheduling was going to happen. I was a little frustrated that they did not have all the specifics worked out yet but I now understand that the plan was just recently adopted and it will be, for the most part, up to the principals to implement scheduling details that make the most sense for their school population on the whole.

I left the meeting feeling bad for the principal and Mr. Rhodes and embarrassed to be a parent. I think the parents at the meeting, at least the most vocal ones, missed that the school system is already broken; They failed to see that this is an effort to do something rather than accepting status quo. At Jordan HS, of roughly 500 of last years freshman class, 100 students were not promoted to the 10th grade. Roughly 2/3 of the class failed at least one course last year. At Jordan, one of the best schools in the system, and even in the state, there is a large gap in the success rate between the white and black population. The state graduation requirements are getting tougher each year and with each new requirement, that many more student do not finish high school.... The system is broken.

I do not blame parents for being concerned and wanting the best for their child, that is the parents job. But it is the school systems job to do the best for the whole student population. Sometimes it means that the very brightest of students, and those students the very bottom of the academic ladder may suffer one way or the other. If these parents are sincere about wanting the best for their children, there are opportunities within the school community to influence the implementation details by joining the "Sight Based Decision Making committee", a committee made up of parents and administrators formed just for this purpose.