April 25, 2008
We are writing as a result of your editorial appearing last week in NewCastleNOW.org. The editorial was critical of the board of education and, in particular, targeted two members who are each running again for another three year term.
Because we, the full five member Chappaqua Board of Education, believe the editorial misrepresented the decision making process regarding the high school schedule and misinformed the readers about the involvement of the board in this decision, we offer the following response.
It is the responsibility of the board of education to set the strategic vision for the school district, not to make building-specific administrative decisions. It is the responsibility of the board to ensure that administrative decisions are consistent with our strategic direction. It is also the responsibility of the board to ensure that decisions are the result of a thoughtful, deliberate, and inclusive process. Finally, the school board must see that the critical resources of time and money are available to support the decision’s implementation.
The board has set forth its strategic vision for teaching and learning in the form of a question: “How can the district ensure that all students, in addition to acquiring necessary content knowledge, learn to think deeply, support their thinking, apply problem solving skills, and actively participate in their learning?” The key element of the new schedule, longer class periods, provides greater opportunities for the kind of deeper, richer learning experiences envisioned by the board’s strategic question. The rich and challenging educational program offered at Greeley will remain the same – it will simply be configured differently.
The schedule change decision is the product of a long, inclusive, and deliberative process. The board fully supports the administration’s decision to implement a new schedule. They are the educational experts who have the knowledge base and professional expertise to make such a decision. Throughout the long process, the board of education has had numerous opportunities to explore the administration’s goals and rationale for the proposed schedule change and to ask questions in public meetings to ensure that what was being proposed would achieve the goals set forth in our strategic question. Greeley teachers have been actively engaged, identifying needs, researching schedule options, and evaluating possibilities.
The idea to consider a new schedule emerged from an effort begun back in 2004 by Horace Greeley Principal Andrew Selesnick. He convened the Structure Study Group, a committee of high school faculty across various departments, to look broadly at what our students will need in order to be best prepared for life after high school in the 21st century. He first reported on the work of the group to the board of education on December 6, 2005. The minutes of that public meeting report a “lively discussion” between board and administrators with students, parents, and community members participating. The Structure Study Group continued its work, involving teachers in various subcommittees, sharing its work at school-wide faculty meetings, talking with students in various venues, communicating with parents through PTA meetings and publications.
At a public meeting of the board of education on January 23, 2007, Mr. Selesnick presented the Structure Study Group’s intention to research new schedule options and identify a schedule which would, among other things, “increase the opportunities for the teaching and learning of 21st century skills.” He reviewed a timeline for the schedule selection process. On June 5, 2007, Mr. Selesnick reviewed three specific schedule options with the board, all providing longer class periods and fewer classes per day. His recommendation to implement the new schedule for the 2008-09 school year allowed for a full year of professional development time for teachers to prepare for the change.
It is extremely hard to bring change to a high achieving school district. If it’s not broken, why fix it? In our case, it’s because we believe we can be even better. The board’s strategic question was intended to challenge Chappaqua administrators at all levels to review the district’s approach to teaching and learning. The change in high school schedule comes in response to this charge.
The Chappaqua Board of Education
Janet Benton, President
Jay Shapiro, Vice President
Rob Gursha
Susan Habermann
Jeffrey Mester
April 24, 2008
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