Unconcerned about any possible ramifications to either herself or her family, an Atlantic Highlands resident has written the three boards of education.  The crux of her letter? Stop focusing on regionalization and get their minds on the current academics in the Henry Hudson tri-district.  Her concerns were many.

It did not do her any good expressing her concerns to the elected officials who pay the $180,000+ salary of the superintendent about whom she is complaining. At least one board representative wrote back acknowledging receipt of the letter. However, instead of giving her any assistance, the letter told her to bring the matter to the superintendent.

The letter was asking for help, not only for students, which should be one the board’s concerns, but for teachers in the district as well.

The letter writer was speaking as a parent, she explained, voicing concerns “about the changes that have been made while Dr. Beams has been superintendent and the implication of these changes on the students and my own children.”

If you were a board member, wouldn’t that get your attention?

The parent has lived in Atlantic Highlands for ten years, has four children in the school, two at Henry Hudson, two at the Atlantic Highlands Elementary. She’s been active in school activities throughout the years she said, and has always been pleased with the education, describing the school as  “the best place for my children.”

Not so much now. As she voiced concerns about curriculum and schedule changes.  Changes that affect students both now and in the future.   She can compare things from the past and the present because of personal experience, she explained…the difference in the local school., for instance, between the time her oldest attended and now when her younger children are there.   The present fares poorly.

The Challenge Program is one example, the concerned parent went on. That was a program that encouraged and challenged children to work at an accelerated pace.  But now that program is gone for some reason. It’s been replaced by Excelerate, one far less satisfactory to the parent of a child who thrived in the Challenge program.

Wouldn’t you think that would get a Board of Education’s attention? At least raise curiosity?

The parent acknowledged the vision for education does fall on the superintendent. But replacing Challenge with something less challenging  doesn’t adequately prepare some students for middle school.

For board members who perhaps do not know about  the Challenge program or its benefits, the parent went into a deeper explanation and gave her own family as an example.

“In the past, she wrote,  4^th – 6th graders were taken out of their class for ELA and Math.  They had an accelerated curriculum.  This enabled the main homeroom teacher to teach those subjects to a much smaller group of students.” That was great she said. She “felt confident that my child who fell in the middle would now be in a smaller class that focused the curriculum at an appropriate level and pace.”

Sounds reasonable, she said, explaining that while she is neither an administrator nor in the education field, “I think it’s very obvious to see the effects of this change. Having 20 students of varying levels learning math together vs the alternative of the curriculum being able to be assessed based on level and much smaller groups of students is clearly not a positive change.”

Wouldn’t you think that would get a board member’s attention? She challenged the members. “How does this support the teachers to also succeed?”  It shows “a failure in leadership to the teachers and students, “ she said.

That, also, didn’t pique an interest.

Aside from that, another concern of this parent is  the focus on test scores in the older grades, even though drastic changes were made to what the teachers were asked to teach.

So she asked another question. “How does the decision of the superintendent to not have the teachers teach in the area in which they are highly qualified benefit anyone?”

As background, she focused on her own experience again.  When her older children attended elementary school,  there were five teachers in 5^th and 6^th grades.  Each able to focus on the subject they were he or she was best suited to teach. A dedicated science teacher in the science lab, and  math, social studies, language and writing teachers in their specialized fields.

Now, that isn’t the case anymore. The writer says  one teacher is being asked to teach all of these subjects. Many of those teacher have never taught some of the subjects before.

Another question that she posed to the board members: Why are the strengths of the teachers not being utilized? It leaves students ill prepared to handle middle school and the changing of classes throughout the day.

The Boards are aware that 30 staff members have left the district since Dr. Beams became administrator two years ago. Wouldn’t you think the Boards would wonder whether having fewer teachers could be the result of that? Isn’t that at least worth looking into?

There were more questions, more complaints, more suggestions and more examples in the letter.  All of which will be addressed in another column.

For now, it appears the parent is on to something. Why is there a focus on regionalization? A subject which the boards of education have said little but on which  the superintendent is front and center? Why does a series of concerns like this fail to raise an eyebrow among  elected board members?  A series of question from a parent with four children in the schools? Wouldn’t it be prudent to raise concerns about the Superintendent, to someone other than the Superintendent?  A bit un-realistic for Board members to expect she should take her complaints about the Superintendent, to the Superintendent.  Shouldn’t she raise the issue to the ones who pay her salary?

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Circus