--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "bluebishop82" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
> Any thoughts? Can Frank D'Allesandro give the pros and cons?
>
>
> Asbury to hold forum on restructuring
>
> Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/31/06
>
> ASBURY PARK: A presentation of the possibilities of restructuring
the
> school district to kindergarten-through-eighth-grade schools with
the
> high school instead of having a middle school will be held at 7
p.m.
> Thursday at Bradley Elementary School, Third Avenue. The
presentation
> is open to the public.
> Nancy Shields
The study is being conducted at the initiation and direction of
the school board. Although there has been a vast improvement (in my
opinion and in the opinion of just about everyone I've asked)in the
educational atmosphere of the Middle School since the new principal
took over in the '04-'05 school year, we need to determine if a
reconfiguration is in the best interest of the students. We must do
something dramatic and long term if we are to lift the district up to
where it should be. I don't want to preclude a full discussion by
members of the public, but you asked my opinion so I will try to
explain it. The "con", as I see it, is a major disruption in the
structure of the system and all of the displacements that implies.
One could also see that as a positive in the long run. The "middle
school" concept seems to be one that works rather well in suburban
districts but not very successful in rural and urban areas, according
to those who have studied the matter. If we restructured the system
so that it was K or pre-K through 8, and then 9 through 12, it would
give us at present four elementary building rather than three.
However, I (speaking strictly for myself) would prefer that the 4th
one, the present Middle School, become a "district-wide" elementary,
rather than a neighborhood one. It could become a kind of "magnet
school" within the district with special rules that must be agreed to
before inclusion (e.g., the possibility of uniforms or different
schedules, etc.) and special programs. That would allow for the
district, with the state's help, to set up a kind of charter school
run by the A.P. BOE. One of the pros, as I see it, it would give the
students in the upper grades a renewed sense of responsibility
towards assisting those in the lower grades. I'm not sure when it
became the norm to take the three grades when children are going
through such great changes of all kinds in themselves and their
lives, and concentrate them in one place. It makes for a place of
great upheaval, to say the least.
Ultimately, it will be up to all the adults concerned to have a
thorough dialogue and make a decision, and hopefully soon. The
status quo, as we all know, is unacceptable.
Frank D'Alessandro
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