Gifted-Board Meeting Monday @ 7:00

[dpip...@cox.net]

I wanted to remind everyone that the school board will be asked to
vote on the proposed gifted plan for 2012-2017 Monday night. The new
plan eliminates teacher endorsement requirements and specific grouping
strategies that help ensure the quality of gifted servcies in CPS. I
have written several detailed emails to the board regarding my
concerns and spoke to several of them at the Election Forum last
Wednesday in Western Branch. I have the written copy of the 2008
initiative and obtained dvd copies of the meetings from 2008 with
administration committing to these goals, which they are now planning
to renege. I have spent the past six years advocating for gifted
students and was blindsided and appauled when this proposed plan was
presented!!!

I have spent the past two months requesting information regarding how
many endorsed teachers CPS still needs and how students have been
grouped in their home schools (not the names of schools just numbers
regarding grouping). Administration has failed to provide any
information.

I have tried to calculate some basic estimations regarding teacher
endorsments and my guess is that CPS is probably around 50% complete.
I believe if CPS endorses one cohort or (25) teachers a year, which is
basically what has been happening, then all should be endorsed within
the next five years. The original plan was to have them all completed
by now; however it appears that due to the financial crisis this
process was slowed down. Yes, it will take us longer than planned and
promised, but it can still be accomplished!!

Administration did state at the last meeting that 46 teachers have
requested endorsement courses from HR, but I am very concerned that
without the requirement teachers will not finish or pursue the
endorsement. I have received no valid reason for the requirement to be
eliminated, since the funding for training is still listed in the
budget. So, the only purpose I can imagine is a passive attempt to not
have to pay for the training by eliminating the requirement and having
teacher participation drop. This way administration can state that it
was funded as promised, but they can't get teachers to complete it.
One of the excuses from administration for eliminating the endorsement
requirment is that a few really great and creative teachers who are
teaching gifted don't want to take the courses. So, if we have the
requirement then they would not be able to continuing teacher gifted,
and we wouldn't want that RIGHT?? That would be disappointing, but
are you kidding me???? Many other teachers really do need the courses
to be able to effectively teach the gifted and those teacher would be
allowed to do so without the high level training that endorsement
courses ensure. The 2008 initiative was developed by admininstration
and they felt this requirment was very important. I am not distracted
by such smoke and mirror tactics. It is time to hold them
accountable!!!!!! I beseech you to come out to the meeting and
advocate for gifted students!!

Deborah Piper

[hayes...@yahoo.com]

where is the meeting tonight?

Connected by DROID on Verizon Wireless

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[myty...@aol.com]

school board and admnistration building... 312 Cedar Road

I don't trust email=))  PLEASE let me know that you received this even if you have nothing to say!!

[Christopher & Julie Hayes]

Got it, thank you!

[Renee Jensrud]

Well I applaud your effort last night!! I was unable to attend meeting but dvr'd it and watched the meeting. I was pleased with their decision to hold off the vote until the wording was modified. I consider this a "win" and I credit all of you on the advisory committee for your tenacity that this was accomplished.

Do you think this is an opportunity to educate school board members about efforts to water down homogeneous classes even when there are sufficient students to fill the classroom? I bet they would request that the word "goal" be included for that benchmark as well. Administration does not seem willing or able to say no when a direct request is made of them by a board member. The difficulty has been when a board member has not asked the precisely, correctly worded question. Then they are given the answer to what they asked, but no more. Therefore the answers have been misleading. The concept of the 11 person classroom and committees' demand to make it homogeneous is ridiculous. But forcing a school like GBMS to undo the homogeneity when it's been successfully implemented is crazy.

I plan to send an email to select school board members who fought for the right things last night, and thank them. I will take the opportunity to speak to this other issue. Perhaps this is a "teachable moment" for our school board!

Kudos to the committee!

Renee Jensrud
Sent from my iPhone

[richar...@cox.net]

Hi All!

We too were unable to attend the meeting last night due to prior commitments but wondered if someone would be willing to share the names of the school board members who advocated for gifted education so that more of us can thank them for their efforts. I am the parent of a rising 6th grader at GBMS and wondered too if something in particular was discussed with regard to that school and grouping at last night's meeting. (see below reference) Thank you too for the time and effort many of you made to represent our childrens' needs last night.

Renee Richardson

[Amy Brand]

Even though I am brand new to following all this, I was able to attend
last night and watch the session in person. I found, however, that many
of the other parents of gifted students that I know were not aware this
is all going on. We all need to make a greater effort to get the word
out to other parents and hopefully FILL THE ROOM for the next meeting!
Even better if we all sign up to speak - doesn't have to be 3 minutes -
it could be 50 people each standing up for 30 seconds! (and, by the way,
HOW does one sign up to speak? I don't know!)

We also REALLY need to be contacting individual school board members
between now and then to let them know what we really want, which is (as
I understand it and if "we" want the same thing!):

1. Requirements for endorsement (not a vague and unenforced "goal" of
100% as they currently have on the table, but a requirement that
teachers become endorsed. Not necessarily within one year - let's be
reasonable in the face of budget issues AND the fact that teachers have
lives and don't necessarily want to take four college courses in a year!
Personally, I think teachers should have to become endorsed within 3-5
years of beginning to teach gifted classes. That would mean that they'd
be taking basically one course per year while also teaching gifted
classes - thus enabling them to apply what they're learning!

2. Homogeneous grouping (with endorsed teachers!) in schools where the
numbers support that, and if they don't, then cluster grouping with
high-achieving honors students. NOT sprinkling gifted students around
in different classes and teams with teachers who aren't endorsed! How
are they going to get any kind of differentiated education that way?

Am I on target with what the issues are? Please correct me if I've
mis-stated anything...

All - PLEASE share this information, the google page, etc. with other
GATE parents that you know and beg them to become involved and to do
whatever they can to attend the next school board meeting where this is
on the agenda (will that just be their next meeting?)

Thanks!

- Amy Brand

[Cathy Frohbergh]

Hello,

I had the chance to speak with Mr. Mills last night at the meeting and he
did indicate that the plan at this time is to have all of the rising 6th
graders for 2012-2013 to be all on the same team and the rising 7th graders,
now in 6th, are going to be placed on 2 different teams, but all gifted
children will be grouped together in the core subjects.

I think it is a great idea to email the board members with suggestions.
They did make it seem like they were willing to listen to our concerns.

Cathy Frohbergh

[myty...@aol.com]

Thanks Cathy....you are so right.  However, please note that two new school members - Victoria Proffitt and Sam Boone - were elected last night and Tina Pullen and Brenda Johnson were voted off the board.  We now have some work to do to educate these two new board members.  I have to say that while I think Mrs. Johnson is a VERY nice woman and did wonderful things to promote the involvement of the board in our school activities and events, if she made the statement that "ALL KIDS ARE GIFTED" one more time in an open forum, I was going to scream.  This does nothing but add to the myth that gifted advocates are elitists!  YES, ALL CHILDREN are GIFTSs but based on the CPS eligibility criteria for gifted students (not to mention criteria thoughout the nation), NOT all kids are "gifted."   By the way, have I ever mentioned that I really dislike labeling.....gifted, honors, non-honors, average (YES, we have groupings of children labeled "average" in our school system by some people....particularly guidance staff!=( 

 

Thanks to all for your continued advocacy efforts on behalf of our students who have been determined eligible for "gifted" services!

 

Kym

 

 

I don't trust email=))  PLEASE let me know that you received this even if you have nothing to say!!

Hello,

I had the chance to speak with Mr. Mills last night at the meeting and he
did indicate that the plan at this time is to have all of the rising 6th
graders for 2012-2013 to be all on the same team and the rising 7th graders,
now in 6th, are going to be placed on 2 different teams, but all gifted
children will be grouped together in the core subjects.  

I think it is a great idea to email the board members with suggestions.
They did make it seem like they were willing to listen to our concerns. 

Cathy Frohbergh


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[Renee Jensrud]

When is the next advisory meeting? I have not attended in the past but I think we all need to meet to develop and clarify strategy, including goals, clear communication message, target audiences, etc. perhaps a called meeting is in order (or ad hoc committee mtg) so that we don't waste any time or opportunities. 

Renee Jensrud

Sent from my iPhone

[myty...@aol.com]

The next meeting is not until next fall, sadly enough=(  And while I, as Chair, can call one, it may be a little too late considering the board meeting is May 14th and the plan WILL be voted on by then.  All I can suggest is that you email Mrs. Rhodes, Gifted Services Supervisor, school board members, Patricia Powers, etc. to provide your input. 

 

We are simply asking that the CPS' administration's 2008 commitment to children who are gifted be maintained and that our students be taught by teachers who have or are in the process of working on their gifted endorsement AND that students who are gifted be taught in homogenous grouping, if this can be achieved at the individual school based on numbers of students.

 

sarah....@cpschools.com

Patrici...@cpschools.com

 

All email addresses for school board members are on the CPS web site but their addresses follow the same as CPS staff:

firstname.l...@cpschools.com

 

Kym

Chair

Gifted Advisory Committee

[richar...@cox.net]

Hi!

As a former high school guidance counselor with CPS and the parent of gifted children, please let me state that I often think labels are misleading and don't place much emphasis upon them, nor did I when I was working, but as an employee trying to formulate a schedule for a child, we are sometimes prone to using labels for particular classes because the classes are titled as such and the course descriptions include words like average, accelerated, honors, etc. I don't think it is prudent to bash counselors or other school-level staff and adminstrators, especially at this time, because they are the individuals on the front lines who are making a difference in our childrens' lives every day as opposed to the central office administrative team which is busy implementing policy that the staff at the individual schools must implement. I am thankful for Mrs. Coberly, a counselor at CRE, who makes a difference in the lives of the children at that school and I was proud of all the high school counselors and the jobs they did throughout the system when I was working.

That being said, I appreciate all that this group has done and I wonder if it wouldn't be prudent to post the telephone number for interested persons to call to speak before the school board in two weeks. (I believe someone asked in a previous e-mail for contact information.) Also, is it possible to provide links to the school board members' e-mail accounts so that those individuals who continue to advocate for gifted services can be contacted - an idea presented in another prior e-mail.

Thanks!

Renee

-- "myty...@aol.com" <myty...@aol.com> wrote:

Thanks Cathy....you are so right. However, please note that two new school members - Victoria Proffitt and Sam Boone - were elected last night and Tina Pullen and Brenda Johnson were voted off the board. We now have some work to do to educate these two new board members. I have to say that while I think Mrs. Johnson is a VERY nice woman and did wonderful things to promote the involvement of the board in our school activities and events, if she made the statement that "ALL KIDS ARE GIFTED" one more time in an open forum, I was going to scream. This does nothing but add to the myth that gifted advocates are elitists! YES, ALL CHILDREN are GIFTSs but based on the CPS eligibility criteria for gifted students (not to mention criteria thoughout the nation), NOT all kids are "gifted." By the way, have I ever mentioned that I really dislike labeling.....gifted, honors, non-honors, average (YES, we have groupings of children labeled "average" in our school system by some people....particularly guidance staff!=(

Thanks to all for your continued advocacy efforts on behalf of our students who have been determined eligible for "gifted" services!

Kym





I don't trust email=)) PLEASE let me know that you received this even if you have nothing to say!!



-----Original Message-----
From: Cathy Frohbergh <Cath...@verizon.net>
To: chesapeake-page <chesape...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tue, May 1, 2012 8:55 pm
Subject: RE: Gifted-Board Meeting Monday @ 7:00


Hello,
I had the chance to speak with Mr. Mills last night at the meeting and he

id indicate that the plan at this time is to have all of the rising 6th

raders for 2012-2013 to be all on the same team and the rising 7th graders,

ow in 6th, are going to be placed on 2 different teams, but all gifted

hildren will be grouped together in the core subjects.
I think it is a great idea to email the board members with suggestions.

hey did make it seem like they were willing to listen to our concerns.
Cathy Frohbergh

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o post to this group, send email to chesape...@googlegroups.com.

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[Deborah]

The last scheduled meeting was held a few weeks ago and no other scheduled meetings are planned for this school year. However, our chairperson Kym Pool has the power to call a meeting. This board at least is providing an opportunity for discussion.  I have some new info to share so by the end of today you will have an update.

Deb

[Deborah]

Parents can call 547-1047 to sign up prior to the meeting. The can also sign
up 15 minutes prior to the meeting at the desk in the administration
building where the school board meetings are held. The meetings start at
7:00 and the next meeting will be Monday, May 14th. The homepage of the CPS
website has lots of information for parents. There are tabs at the top for
contact information for administrators (Dr. Powers is incorrect- it is not
patrici...@cpschools.com) and school board members. On the left side of
the home page there is a box titled proposed plan for gifted education, so
you can review the plan. All school divisions are now required to have the
plans on their website, so you can compare and contrast. This has been very
helpful for me. Also the VDOE has the state regulation regarding gifted on
their website as well. I have shared most of this information in previous
post, but I agree it is important to summarize how parents can access
information and make contacts. The board meetings are held at the school
admin building in front of City Hall on Cedar Road. I back at the back edge
of the Great Bridge primary parking lot and just walk across the street. The
back doors will take you directly to the meeting room.

Deb

[Deborah]

Sorry, I meant to type that Dr. Powers email is
partici...@cpschools.com. Lots of typing over the past couple of days
and I am getting wiped out!