12/03 Montclair Board Meeting

Tonight I went to the Montclair Board of Education meeting. Some observations I made about the board room was that it was in 2 sections; one being designated for the board members with their seats set up very similarly to our class, and the other side of the room set up with rows of chairs for the public with a podium and microphone in front facing the board members for public participation. We were present for the public session of the meeting; a private meeting had been held right before with some of the same agenda.

The first thing discussed at the meeting was Inclusive Schools Week, which is about compassion and social development in schools as well as welcoming all students into the school system, special ed or otherwise. Montclair has been setting the standards of closing the achievement gap by teaching towards interests and abilities.

The first topic brought to order was an issue that many students came to the meeting to talk about, and that was a new grading policy in the high school's AP calculus and statistics courses. It entailed having one test and quiz per marking period being used to determine their grades, which students as well as parents did not feel was an adequate way to go about grading or to prepare for the AP exam. The one test per marking period is meant to be a practice AP test, and graded as such. However, like one student stated, the actual AP test has a curve, while the tests they were taking in class were not, which effected their grades. Students are given the option to drop the AP class to take honors, but since this new grading policy went into effect after the beginning of the school year, dropping and switching classes is more difficult than it seems because it not only changes the levels of some of the classes they are taking, it can effect the way colleges evaluate their applications. I'll write here what the students and parents had to say-

Parent: It is hard for students who do want to switch out of their AP stats or calc classes because it may change the level of some of the other classes they would have to switch around
Student: Does not understand why new policy was createdl why does dropping a level increase their grades? 1 test determining an entire marking period's grade is unfair, their should be more grades to go by. This new policy should be used in all AP classes, not just Calc and Stats.
Student: Most students in these classes are seniors and it effects their transcripts for colleges
Parent of student in both classes: Son was in both classes effected by the new policy; unfair to change the curriculum after the school year has started; it should be tested before put into effect, and have more info to back it up
Parent: (read statement on son's behalf) Sees new policy as a bait and switch, he is a freshman and is afraid that the same thing can happen to him in the future if he decides to take AP classes.
Student: AP test has a curve, so the tests they take in class should also have a curve if it is to prepare them correctly
Give me the song and I'll sing it like I mean itGive me the words and I'll say them like i mean it
Student: Feels efforts have been wasted, wrong wat for students to prepare for the hard course and test

Dr. Alvarez, a board member, thanked the students for coming out and voicing their concerns. The High School principal then spoke about the new policy. He said it was set because the scores in those particular classes had dropped dramatically, and they were looking for a way to make the scores better to keep Montclair at its competitive standards. He said that the main ideas of the new policy were to hope that students would perform better, that they would recognize the importance of the test since many were not taking it for the right reasons, and he talked about being fair to everyone and promised to re-evaluate the case, and said a decision would be made soon.

This new grading policy was definitly the biggest topic at the meeting, and there was a lot of discussion afterwards during the 5 minute break.

Another topic discussed was Governor Corzine's preliminary funding proposal. I didn't understand it all but what I got out of it was that they were being given $450million, funding for special ed increased, early preschool and full day kindergarten was included, and there was a lot of talk about property and income taxes. They said it was unlikely that this would happen soon, but Montclair is watching closely and wants all the information early so they can get the budget done in time next year.

Something else that came up was sports teams and having level playing fields within their leagues. Soon NJSIAA will evaluate many (public and non-public) schools in North Jersey and possibly create a new league so that Montclair's teams can play at the state level.

The enrollment report was pretty interesting to listen to. The board member presenting it talked about student population changes in the Montclair schools. The African American student population dropped drastically, while the caucasion population did not change very much. Another member said that schools should recruit students. It was stated that the Watchung School had the least diversity when it came to economic background. School lunches were discussed, and I noticed that the number of students who got free or reduced lunch was pretty low. Montclair does not get a lot of government funding, mostly because of No Child Left Behind.

The last topic that was significant at the meeting was a change to the Language Arts curriculum. A main point of it was that teachers could look into previous grades and grades ahead to make sure their students are performing at the right pace. There will be performance assesments, for example oral presentations and dramatizations as opposed to nothing but written papers. Learning Centers will be utilized in all grades, and communication between the parents and teachers will be emphasized.

I felt that this meeting was very interesting. I like that they were democratic in the way they handled issues; in other districts students may not have been allowed to speak up the wat they did at this meeting. I respected the principal and board members for listening to what they had to say, and they took the students seriously. Every issue was looked over carefully. Montclair does a good job at overlooking every school and looks at them as a whole and as individual units, which I think works for this district because it is very diverse.