Factory School Spin

Here's a hilarious, even surreal article highlighting the pathetic flailing of *parental outsourcers*:

School Addresses Leveling Issue

Information has been circulated about the possibility of classes at the middle-high school being "de-leveled," meaning combining college prep level with honors level in one classroom. The issue came up during the communications portion of the Jan. 20 School Committee meeting.

Last week, the Mariner had a commentary "College prep/honors classes should not be combined" from two parents citing their concerns over the possibility of de-leveling classes at the high school.

Middle-High School Principal Joel Antolini has written a letter to set the record straight on what is going on with scheduling and leveling at the high school level. The letter was mailed to all parents of Middle-High School students this week and is currently posted on the high school’s website.

"At CMHS, our courses are leveled, students are not," Antolini writes. "It is customary for individual students to choose courses from various curriculum areas at different levels."

Many courses, due to student interest, enrollment, and staff availability, are offered at different levels but at the same time, with the same teacher, in the same classroom, Antolini said. In these instances, teachers differentiate instruction to ensure all students are appropriately challenged by the curriculum and reach their full potential.

Next year, the high school will begin to make every effort to ensure students take at least one heterogeneous class in each curriculum area over the course of four years, Antolini said. This effort is an indicator for one of the seven standards of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). The high school will undergo re-accreditation by NEASC in the 2011-2012 school year.

In a phone interview, School Committee chair Adrienne MacCarthy said ensuring each student is challenged and has the opportunity and access to be challenged is a key part of the district’s mission and vision statement.

"The promotion of equity in all students is a goal," MacCarthy said.

Did you get all that?

Parents heard that so-called tracking, i.e. honors classes, was on the chopping block. Honors students, for some classes anyway, would be shuttled back into the flock, and reduced to learning alongside the football team and the cheerleaders. I doubt Biff and Barbie are too excited about this either!

First of all, these parents have no standing. Sure they can write letters and complain, but the fact remains, they don't exactly have the rights of full-freight-paying customers. They're the ones who chose to outsource the *schooling* of their kids to incompetent, corrupt government agents.

Though, y'all have to admit, the administrative spin was a doozy!

Obviously, like every other government school in America, this town is facing cutbacks. Once they lay off teachers (instead of across-the-board paycuts, gutting the administration, or union pension concessions) the stubborn math dictates that classes will get bigger one way or another.

So kids in a history or math class might be bifurcated into sections. Big whoop. They should be spending most of class time independently reading the texts anyway. But I digress.

Here's the doozy:

Next year, the high school will begin to make every effort to ensure students take at least one heterogeneous class in each curriculum area over the course of four years, Antolini said. This effort is an indicator for one of the seven standards of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).

Forget forget MCAS rankings, forget SATs and getting graduates into revered colleges, and don't worry about *keeping up with China* anymore. No, in this era of bankrupt schools, now HETEROGENEOUS classes are deemed paramount, even spun as ideal!

...ensuring each student is challenged and has the opportunity and access to be challenged is a key part of the district’s mission and vision statement.

Hah! Make sure every kid has the opportunity to be *challenged* - I guess except for the alleged best and brightest!

Okay, can't waste too much time or too many words here. To wrap this one up, somebody please reconcile these two excerpts:

"At CMHS, our courses are leveled, students are not,"

"The promotion of equity in all students is a goal,"

Anyone who generally thinks that all factories in China do is produce inferior junk and pollution....

They ought to take a sober look at the mind factories here, the ones they send sentence their precious children to.