APP Split is Off! ...for now
In a rare victory for reason and community, the Superintendent's decision to resolve the overcrowding at Washington Middle School by dividing middle school APP between Washington and Hamilton has been put on hold.
There won't be any formal announcement until the Student Learning Committee meets on April 24, but in an email today, Director Brita Butler-Wall told Stephanie Bower, the chair of the APP Advisory Committee:
"I met with Carla yesterday. At SLC on the 24th she will be making a brief statement about her original recommendation to add an APP site to the effect that she is going to put it on hold given the context: new supe coming, new assignment plan in the works, program reviews not completed yet. She will also give a timeline for any further decisions and outline a process so that parents etc. will have enough notice to be able to give input in a timely fashion. I believe she is looking at tabling this concept for a year or so."
For the record, the community had plenty of TIME to provide input. We tried to provide input from March to October. Six months is plenty of time. The problem was that no one at the District was listening to the input. They held us at arm's length and refused to have any kind of conversation with us at any time.
The APP Advisory Committee never came out either for or against the split. The committee only said that they didn't have enough information to make a judgement. The Board never came out either for or against the split. They were conducting the review required by District Policy when the Superintendent withdrew the decision.
I expect that the District staff will quickly offer a revised District Policy D12.00 for Highly Capable Student Programs - one that does not require Board review of any decisions. Then they will come right back with this rejected idea, but without anyone to question it. If they are lucky, they will have a new Board and a new Superintendent who won't know the history and won't find it at all suspicious.
This idea has been rejected... for now.
There won't be any formal announcement until the Student Learning Committee meets on April 24, but in an email today, Director Brita Butler-Wall told Stephanie Bower, the chair of the APP Advisory Committee:
"I met with Carla yesterday. At SLC on the 24th she will be making a brief statement about her original recommendation to add an APP site to the effect that she is going to put it on hold given the context: new supe coming, new assignment plan in the works, program reviews not completed yet. She will also give a timeline for any further decisions and outline a process so that parents etc. will have enough notice to be able to give input in a timely fashion. I believe she is looking at tabling this concept for a year or so."
For the record, the community had plenty of TIME to provide input. We tried to provide input from March to October. Six months is plenty of time. The problem was that no one at the District was listening to the input. They held us at arm's length and refused to have any kind of conversation with us at any time.
The APP Advisory Committee never came out either for or against the split. The committee only said that they didn't have enough information to make a judgement. The Board never came out either for or against the split. They were conducting the review required by District Policy when the Superintendent withdrew the decision.
I expect that the District staff will quickly offer a revised District Policy D12.00 for Highly Capable Student Programs - one that does not require Board review of any decisions. Then they will come right back with this rejected idea, but without anyone to question it. If they are lucky, they will have a new Board and a new Superintendent who won't know the history and won't find it at all suspicious.
This idea has been rejected... for now.
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