I dunno, and I should have added that was what I heard at the school today. I am sure there is a deadline, I know the deadline to have the teacher survey completed is Friday.
The calendar is that of West Smithfield and South Smithfield. It's on the Board of Education website. And, yes, if it passes it could be implemented for the next school year.
Apparently, Steve Sbraccia (not sure of spelling) had a report about this issue. http://www2.nbc17.com/news/2011/feb/23/7/johnston-county-mulls-change-voluntary-year-round--ar-808445/ He interviewed Mr. Beamon, no doubt a solid supporter of the proposed calendar change. Mr Beamon was able to express the viewpoint from the Board. Steve also interviewed two parents from Polenta, neither of which has been provided any more information than we have. Both parents seem to have reservations in adopting this calendar. I have suggested to reporters and media folks that they read this board to see that this issue has generated some discussion among the community, all without meaningful data being provided by those who propose the change.
FYI : If parents are not informed of when and where the voting takes place, then their voted gets thrown into the YES pot... as if they are conceding to this year round calendar. How many parents are aware of that information? Teachers are... also, if we are supposed to be educating ALL students to the best of our ability, then why must those students that need enrichment have to PAY for their education? Remedial goes free, while Advanced students must pay to be educated at a higher level. All students should be expected to reach his or her potential no matter what level of a student they are.... This is in complete contrast to standards that should be set to improve our educational system. I am not necessarily against this calendar; however, I am against the fact the county cannot see fit to figure out a way to allow ALL students to work to his/her potential regardless if they are remedial or accelerated. (This concerns the pay as you go enrichment courses being offered during the intersession week.)
Another objection that I have is not knowing how the process will work for parents. Will it be one where the same information presented to the teachers is given to the parents and then the vote taken or will there be a discussion of the merits and drawbacks, fact based I hope, and some time to consider the arguments presented and then vote. An absence of 'no' vote certainly can not and should not be counted as a vote to the affirmative.
These remedial weeks are the same as summer school. They are just spread out throughout the school year instead of being lumped together during the summer. Students are not required to pay for summer school, so why would they be required to pay for these intercessions? So in a way, isn't this giving the students wanting enrichment an opportunity that they aren't normally given during the summer months? Don't some families pay for their children to go to camp in the summer? There is a lot of speculation and rumors floating around concerning this subject. There are parent forums scheduled to discuss this with the parents, aren't there? So why not wait until all information is explained before passing judgment?
Students requiring summer school to be promoted don't pay. Yet, therein lies the issue. Is it about promotion or retention. It appears that the NCLB philosophy equates to never assigning a failing grade. Telling students they won't be allowed to fail certainly does not prepare them for real life. As for paying for camps, some camps do provide enhancements. I'd be willing to wager that students who attend these are not the students requiring remediation. Many of the summer camps are drop off daycares or similar types of function. Wake does have sufficient numbers of these resources at present, to meet the needs for track in/track out use. I am unaware of any facility or program in the Cleveland are that is currently prepared for this level of activity. When did it become the norm for a failing effort (or even lack of effort) to not produce a failing grade? And if a passing grade is a 60, are we so sure that those graduates are ready for their futures? Furthermore, if a student who honestly applied himself and did the best he could scores a 65 and is then ranked slightly ahead of the student who didn't give a rats toot for attendance, study, or participation -how is that fair to the student who tried? So if failing grades cannot be assigned, does that not restrict the available domain of scores? If the best grade is 100, and no student fails, then the range of scores is 40 (100-60=40) How do higher institutions of learning compute the academic scores of students from a 'no fail' school versus a school whose grade bare resemblance to reality? How do potential employers evaluate the educational level of a place to which they are considering operating? If we are to attract high tech/high paying jobs, they'll require reputable academic achievement. Your insinuating that we should wait for the powers that be to provide whatever information they deign to provide, at their convenience is folly. That this particular discussion in the open dates back to the 9th of February, and apparently the information desired STILL hasn't been provided, despite numerous emails to the school board, questions asked of principals, and other attempts to find information; this begs the question and skepticism...what are they trying to hide? Note that this discussion has taken 18 pages, has over 160 responses, and over 7500 views. One would think that the powers that be would cotton on the idea that this discussion deserves an adequate response from them. None of those with whom I have spoken are against public school education or academic success for our children. We just ask for open, honest, and fair discussion with sufficient time to weigh the information provided and then decide.
I just got home from work and am super tired so forgive me if I'm missing something but how can it be cost effective to have an AIG Center when your school only has TWO students that attend the center? The AIG Center has always been an oddity to me too. I grew up in Wake County and my child attends a charter school in Johnston County whose students dont go to the AIG Center. (He is AIG and is well served by his AIG certified school) What I have always thought was that if my child did attend a regular JoCo public school I would be ****ed off that he only got to go to this center once a week. The stuff that have there sounds great but one day a week seems like such a rip off! DB's wife DB
I agree with some of your agruements on this topic, but I am starting to feel like you have found the subject of parents being uninformed as weak spot to harp on because you don't agree with implementing the calendar and you think people might agree with this even if they do want the calendar. The county will not go forward with voting until there has been an informational session with Q and A. They might not have the answers you are looking for when you are looking for them, but the parents will have the option to vote no if they don't feel that they were well enough informed. If they don't vote no, then that is totally up to them. There are plenty of people who go out and vote for our government officials completely uninformed, but that is how the voting process works. I'm sure there are a lot of parents with a lot of questions. I think it would be unproductive for the county or the schools to try to answer individual questions now, when they plan to have an official informative meeting very soon. And if the county has left it up to the schools to inform its parents, why aren't people asking their principals instead of getting angry with the county? About the remediation/Enrichment weeks...I do equate the remediation to summer school, giving students the extra help to be promoted to the next level. I am having a hard time understanding why anyone would be upset that they are continuing to offer something that was going to be cut. Some are also arguing that the enrichment shouldn't cost parents money because they shouldn't have to pay for their kids to be taught at a higher level. HELLO, they will still be taught to their level during the regular weeks if they have a teacher who is doing his/her job! Just because they are offering EXTRA enrichment/childcare doesn't mean they are all of a sudden going to stop teaching the higher level kids in the classroom! I honestly think the enrichment is just a way to offer childcare and make it seem learning centered. I agree that our local daycares may not be able to provide the services needed and that this is the county's way of dealing with that. I am not a proponent of the calendar, because i have my own set of issues with scheduling/work/childcare. Frankly, I don't want my children to get burned out by being cared for at school every day of the year. However, I feel that some of the arguments being made are not valid and that some people are against every part of the calendar proposal just because it is convenient and fits their agenda. The truth is, we won't know exactly what the proposal is until we attend the informational meeting. How many time to people hear rumors at work that aren't addressed until it can be officially addressed at a staff meeting? Some are also saying that there seems to be a rush. My view on that is that once we've been given all of the information the schools and county have, it is up to us to decide if that's enough for an affirmative vote. If voting day comes and you don't feel like you have enough info, vote no. Then, next year they might have more share.
re: childcare and the calendar. when there is a demand, the need will be met. just because there are no "year-round" scheduled afterschool things now doesn't mean there won't be if the calendar is instituted. you think centers and programs will just sit by while that potential customer base has no place to spend their money?
I know that in wake they daycare facilities started programs to meet the needs of the track calendar. Have any of the johnston county facilities done this for the schools that currently use the modified calendar? Will they if only a few schools switch over? I really don't know a lot about this. I would think that from a business stand point they would take the opportunity to expand, but idk.
Some of them are only open afterschool and SOS, perhaps they have other things going on that are inline with the school calendar - like second jobs or lives of their own, staff that is in HS? YMCA has counselors that are high schoolers... What about mothers who work in retail during the day to supplement income while their kids are in school so they can be there in the morning and in the afternoon negating a need for daycare? They can't just ask for two weeks off every nine weeks, can they?
Or perhaps an LOA and a high schooler takes over their hours? They switch to evenings? I dunno either, just some thoughts. I can see how this is no big deal for working parents, whose kids are already in daycare. For at-home parents this would be a lifestyle change. I don't sit around in July thinking to myself "Gosh, I wish these kids would go back to school". It's usually the week before school starts. I enjoy the long break with my children, our time together is recreational and educational. Entertaining children in cold weather is more expensive than in the summer - not alot of outside activities available or really enjoyable.
I can understand the confusion here. AIG kids from all schools go to the Center throughout the week and schools share buses. So my kids get on the bus and go to another school to pick up kids and then go to the Center. So there is a school full of children each day at the Center. And I so agree with you and am VERY ticked off that my kids only go to the Center once a week. And I'm VERY ticked off that my kids aren't getting the education they need the other four days. It has been a struggle for five years now for me and that's one major reason I'm oppossed to this new calendar. It will NOT enhance my kids' educations in any way - even the Central Office and my principal haven't been able to tell me how it would. So let me enjoy summers with my kids when all my kids are home, not just the few not on this calendar. Oh, and I don't see that one day a week at the Center as a rip off. I see it as a blessing because my kids have learned so much there and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE going. It's the one day of the week that I don't have to drag them out of bed for school.
I also wanted to address some other things posted about. From my principal, if a school has 500 familes and only 300 fill out the surveys sent out, those are the only ones considered. The other 200 would not be a yes or no. So I'm hoping parents will use their vote and send the surveys back in regardless of their position. I have also heard that Four Oaks Elementary is doing their parents info sessions with no questions being taken at them. The parents were sent home information packets about the new calendar and told if they wanted questions answered to send them in by a certain date and those questions would be answered at the Q&As. So no open dialogue and there will be no chance to question anything that they may hear about for the first time at the Q&A. How is that for open and transparent? I'm curious as to how other schools will be conducting their Q&A, if this is how it's been mandated that they do them or if it's up to each school.
Sorry, but I have to disagree with this statement. This is a personal preference. Our family actually enjoys the cooler weather and gets outside a lot more, for a wider range of activities. We don't like the heat and humidity so summer is more expensive--always trying to find something to do in an air conditioned area and that usually costs money (movies, skating, places like the mall or monkey joe's, museums etc.), and our pool membership costs money. In the cooler times, we are much more likely to go hiking, biking, kite flying, frisbee golfing, duck-feeding , canoeing, etc.). You can always put more layers on to stay warm, but if you are naked and still hot--well... :lol:
