Schools Reconfiguration Meeting As Per Readers: Thanks for sharing

Thanks to all four readers that shared their experience at the School District Schools Reconfiguration Meeting held this past Monday at Hubbard Middle School. I am posting all comments here as a post for those who missed them at the comment's box. Thanks again for sharing and we all look forward to hear more on how this matter gets resolved.

Thank you Maria for the opportunity to share information about the meeting.
Cedarbrook had the largest group of people out, one parent was from Emerson and
one parent was from PAAS PTA's. There was a presentation by the Superintendent,
then an activity was done in a group break out session, that was geared towards
what our ideas and thoughts were about reconfiguration. There wasn't any
particular plans that was revealed. Parents did press to get the Superintendent
to state when changes would occur.

Mrs. Pyles stated there would be a recommendation at the January board meeting and the Board of Education would have to vote on the recommendation that she presents. The recommendation would probably go into effect in September if the BOE agrees with the recommendation of the Superintendent. There were many valuable points that came up from the passionate parents. The points are as follows:

* Parents really don't want their children in the middle schools. (Mr. Asante) Principal of Hubbard asked why and invited parents to visit the school and he was open to hear the parents suggestions.
*Curriculum is the real issue, Why hasn't it been fixed?
*Preception is key, Plainfield needs to do more about getting the positive news out about the success of our children.
*Plainfield should concentrate on the particular schools with the over population problem and serious curriculum problems, the other schools shouldn't be involved.
*Genesis still isn't being utilized to it's maximum potiental.
*Parents are willing to send their children to private school, rather than sending them to the mediocre charter and failing middle schools.
*Kudos to the Superintendent for staying very late and listening to the parents concerns.

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I attended PPS configuration meeting and although there was a presentation and discussion regarding the configuration. The parents were not taken the interim-superintendent reasoning as good enough. At the end of the day most parents don't want their children to go to the middle schools regardless of overcrowding or not. The same question kept coming up regarding verifying children true school location. The complaint from many parents was that there are children from other areas or towns which do not correspond with school attend. Ex. someone living on the west side of Plainfield attending Cook or the east or the opposite. Another thing which came up was with schools that have a K-8 the curriculum for the upper grades does not provide enough diversity or challenges. My feeling is if the BOE decides to move forward with this plan there more problems which will develop. 1. All schools which have K-8 will increase in student body or parents will either send their kids to charater or private schools still leaving the current middle schools with low enrollment. One parent suggest that all the schools be reconfigured equally on both the east and side as well as the high school which would provide the community with
better student to teacher ratios and a even playing field for our students. Nothing has been finalized but it clear that some decision will be made hopefully more thoughtful than the principal relocation.

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I also attended the meeting and heard the same thing reported here - no middle school interest from parents, "fix only the school's that were overcrowded not the ones that work", and why was this done by the previous superintendent when there was no thought into how crowded it would make some schools. The group work was helpful as our group was made up of parents from Cook, Cedarbrook, Emerson, a teacher and coach from one of the schools, and a school principal (Jefferson). What was clear from that discussion is that there are many considerations
involved in this discussion from a parents, neighborhood, and schools
perspective. Parents need to feel that their children are getting a quality
education and schools need to have the space, class sizes, and resources to meet the needs of the students they serve. I thought the superintendent did a great job answering questions and being very accessible during this meeting. More meetings should be structred this way.

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I agree that although there is discussion regarding this problem the solutions is not going to make any one parent truly happy. The middle schools in Plainfield have not had a very good reputation. Although Plainfield is diverse regarding race and culture there is not much of that diversity shown throughout the district schools. Which again says very loudly that until the PPS provide the quality of education they are looking for more and more parents will be sending their children outside of the district either after 5th, 6th or 8th if their school goes to that level. During the meeting it was mentioned that the conversion was tried before with no real success so why was it push again a few years ago? Now due to overcrowding they want to go back to the old format which doesn't address the real problem. Why do parent feel so uncomfortable with the middle schools. Over the past few years every school has shown lower AYP scores and NJASK scores which again brings to mind what is missing from this equation?

We know whatever school is doing well more parents will try to get their children in there. What also needs to be done is a plan which incorporates the successes from every school to create a model which could be use to bring the district forward. We also need to enforce student location zoned for their school. Too many students are attending schools which they are not zoned for.

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