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Home > Blogs > Springfield Schools News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > October > 23 > Entry
Board to hear committee recommendations tonight
The Springfield Board of Education will hear final recommendations from a committee examining potential alternative education programs at their board meeting tonight.
The Alternative Education Committee is one of two board-commissioned groups working simultaneously right now. The AEC is tasked with looking at programming the district might offer to try to retain and attract students to the district. A second committee, the facilities committee, is looking at the district’s building usage, particularly where to move the central offices and transportation department, now in South High School.
In September the AEC held a community forum to gather input on two of its proposals which both concerned restructuring the district’s grade level organization. The proposals were to change the district’s kindergarten through fifth grade elementary schools into teams of two buildings, one for kindergarten through second grade and the other for third through fifth grade. The other proposal would turn one of the district’s middle schools into an eighth grade building and the remaining middle schools into 6th and 7th grade only buildings.
Residents who attended the forum asked for research and evidence to back up the proposals.
The committee met one more time to finalize its recommendation for the board, which also include better support for families in the district who homeschool their kids, increasing the usage of credit recovery programs for high school students who are credit deficient, raising awareness of unique programs like the International Baccalaureate program at the high school and expanding online opportunities.Those suggestions weren’t topics at the forum because they aren’t really “new” ideas, said Don Reed, the board member chairing the committee.
They’ll present those recommendations at the 6 p.m. meeting tonight in the city forum.
But this committee’s getting a little competition. Some of the parents who attended the forum have started their own movement.
One of the driving points behind the alternative education committee is retaining students, particularly the high-ability, high-achieving students who are leaving the district. This is a problem every urban district in the state is facing.
The answer many Ohio urban districts have embraced is magnet schools or a “school of choice.”
A magnet school is a specialized school that parents make an active choice to send their children to as opposed to neighborhood schools where the child automatically attends based on residency. There are many different types: Montessori, single-sex schools, schools for the arts, etc. It’s a school choice option like private schools or charter schools but typically remains under the school’s umbrella, so funds remain in the district.
A Springfield parent committee called SPACE has started looking into magnet schools following the September forum. According to an email I received from the group, in November they will host a forum with a presenter from an Ohio public magnet school that they would like to see in Springfield City Schools for anyone interested in learning more.
The presenter is Dianne Suiter, principal of Middletown’s Central Academy. Central Academy was one of the schools I covered for over a year while at the Middletown Journal so I’m very familiar with it. When we get a bit closer I’ll do a post on Central’s philosophy, how it works, things like that but the link I provided gives you an overview.
Look for more on this soon. Would you support a “school of choice” in Springfield?
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment | Categories: Springfield City Schools
Comments
By Edubacation
October 23, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this
I would support a School Board of Choice! One which the president isn’t the dumbfound wicked witch of the west!!!!!By Megan Gildow
October 24, 2008 9:51 AM | Link to this
To clarify, a “school of choice” would be a magnet school building under the district’s control that parents have to actively choose to enroll their child in. These schools typically adopt a philosophy and other features that would be unique only to that building within the district’s operations.By Interested Party
October 26, 2008 1:35 PM | Link to this
I would support a school of choice - especially now that inter-district transfers are now in question. Parents need to feel comfortable and that they have choice with SCS in order to completely support the district.