April 26, 2005
Unofficial notes by Ann Shildneck Redmon
School Committee Meeting,
4/26/05,
All members present.
Public Comment
Jerry Wambolt: against Day of
Silence at LHS.
David Parker: member anti-bias committee at Estabrooke. Against books depicting
same-sex families.
All comments accompanied by loud clapping from the audience.
Superintendent’s
Report
Topic is GPA, not a decision-making evening. Just keeping SC
informed. Give community a chance to weigh in. Administration makes this
decision.
Dr. Michael Jones, LHS principal makes the presentation. LHS
student profile sent with every college application. Two systems of GPA:
weighted and unweighted. Options
being discussed since 2003. Faculty voted to abolish weighted GPA in
September 2004. MJ worried about disadvantaging students and dividing the
community. Decided on further study. LHS community
endorses unweighted GPA. Administration needs to
educate the parent community. Jones endorses unweighted
GPA.
Guidance Dept. informally polled colleges and found no
strong feeling that weighted GPA was an advantage. Repeatedly
told that colleges recalibrate. Colleges look for difficulty of courses
on a transcript. LHS has no class rank. Honors and AP courses for students who
want to challenge themselves. MJ ranked weighted and unweighted
GPAs for the top 50 students, and it came out about the same.
There are discrepancies in the system. Some music courses
are weighted; no other fine arts courses are weighted. Debate weighted. No AP
English or AP Latin.
LHS faculty and administration does not want to devalue any
educational effort. Kids still go to best colleges, and everyone finds a good
placement.
TD: Administration should decide this issue. What motivates
the change? Why faculty so unanimous?
MJ: The compelling argument was that a weighted GPA creates
a permanent underclass of students in Level 1 and Level 2 classes. Always below Honor and AP. Inequity when one course is worth more
than another course. Colleges don’t weight courses. Caste
distinction among students. Honors and AP designations
always on course transcript.
HC: Wants to hear from faculty. Why is this issue compelling
to faculty?
Karen Girandel: LHS French teacher
and resident. Try to avoid kids taking AP to get weighted GPA. Taking AP should
be based on a desire to learn and master a subject. Don’t devalue kids who work
hard at any level. Don’t create an underclass. All kids are smart. Students
come back from college and say, “I didn’t realize I was smart until I left
LHS.”
English teacher: Reach kids who aren’t academic
overachievers. Make school thrive for all students. Kids reach for Honors,
can’t handle the work, and drop down in the middle of the year. Not ideal for
the student or teacher.
Janette: Kids stretch—weighted GPA an incentive.
MJ: AP and Honors recognized by colleges. Kids should enroll
in AP and Honors to challenge themselves.
GH: Kids take more challenging courses to reach a goal.
Prepare to go to elite colleges by taking Honors and AP courses. A student’s
internal drive to succeed drives AP and Honors enrollment.
Public Comment
Adam Sichick: parent. Fundamental
issue is a summary measure of academic achievement. In favor of weighted GPA.
Mend its faults.
Peter Orloff: parent.
Julie Strong: Caste system. How to break it down besides unweighting GPA?
Eric Brielson: Keep weighted GPA;
represents academic achievement. Concerned about kids
“gaming” the system. Take easier courses to get better grades. Fix
imperfections; don’t discard system.
Susan Elberger: former SC member.
Policy decision should be made by SC.
Patty Robertson: Has a SPED student at Diamond and an Honors
student at LHS. Is also an admissions officer at MIT.
LHS should tell overburdened college admissions staff as much as possible.
Telling Honors students to study for the intrinsic value of learning doesn’t
apply to Level 1 and Level 2 students?
MJ: LHS offers lots of help for struggling students.
Members Reports
HC: Compliment Dr. Jones’ letter about problems at LHS. Open
to dialogue.
TG: Susan Elberger will serve on a
committee for a 5-year calendar.
SE: Need a lot of lead time to change school start date. Get
it out before end of this year if changing school start date for Sept. 2006.
BH: Wait for new Superintendent. Still gives 10 months
notice.
SE: Not enough time. Need more lead time to change start
date. Do before school ends.
Vito La Mura: Love to get it done before summer.
OG: Rally at State House 5/10 at 11:30. Education must be
first priority. More mandates coming down the pike.
Dawn McKenna: Don’t rush a policy shift, such as start dates
and school vacations. Don’t make changes in a rush.
OG: Move ask BH to put together a
calendar committee headed by Susan Elberger to put
out a 2006-2007 calendar by the end of June.
TG: Need parents, teachers, custodians, administration
represented on the committee. Get input from the business community. OG will be
SC liaison.
BH: Committee should do what’s best for children. You’ll get
all kinds of input.
TG: PBC met with HDC about a conceptual plan for reuse of
white house with construction. HDC liked rendering. Save house and knock down
addition with garage. Estimate is $2.45 million. Gets 10,000
square feet of usable space. Brings SPED into building and provides
John Gimmel: PBC member. Asking TM to go ahead with design.
TD:
John: Presently 6000 sf, going to
10,000 sf. Increase includes SPED, ramps, elevators, stairs.
TD: Who else can move in with SPED?
BH: Curriculum library, meeting space for curriculum staff.
TD: $3.5 million. Does it include rent for temporary space?
John Gimmel: Intent is to include
rent.
TG: Look for occupied town space--incur build-out cost.
Peter Kelley recommended a rental space that would cost $120K per year.
John Gimmel: Only asking TM for
design appropriation at this point.
OG: Town has limited capital $. What is our capital
obligation to our other facilities?
Dana Hamm: Getting roof report for Estabrook
tomorrow. This is the only issue in the system.