Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 10, 1993 TAG: 9306100123
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
Roughly 75 parents attended a meeting at the high school Tuesday night to quiz administrators on plans to consolidate classes for college-bound and vocational students and to go to a system of class schedules similar to that used by colleges.
Parents worried that eliminating the college-bound level of classes could hurt the chances of Christiansburg students getting into the college of their choice. School administrators, though, said combining the classes would help improve the education of vocational students without harming those who are headed for college after high school.
Some parents were not satisfied with the explanations Principal George Porterfield and County Director of Secondary Instruction Jim Ruffa gave for the changes.
"A lot of parents were really, really upset," said Phillip Gilley, the father of an incoming ninth-grader. "The problem I've got is with so many unanswered questions."
"[Administrators] have some pretty pat answers, but they don't have anything to support those answers," said Janice Smith, another parent. Parents were angry that the decision had been made to restructure the school's curriculum without their participation, she said.
Porterfield could not be reached for comment yesterday; but Dean Rowe, an assistant principal at the high school, said Tuesday night's meeting was the beginning of parent involvement and an effort to discover parents' opinions about the plans.
Jim Sellers, the county's assistant superintendent for instruction, said he would wager that because of the parents' concerns, Porterfield and Ruffa probably would decide to slow down the changes at Christiansburg.
During the past year, committees in each of Montgomery County's four high schools have studied ways to change their instructional programs, Sellers explained. The committees have visited other schools that have made similar changes, including those in York and Hanover counties, he said.
Changes have been proposed next year at Auburn, Shawsville and Christiansburg high schools, Sellers said. The committee studying restructuring at Blacksburg High School decided against any changes next year, he said.
At Christiansburg, the existing college and general level classes would be combined into a new standard level, leaving the school with three rather than four levels of classes: basic, standard and honors.
Classes would meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays or Tuesdays and Thursdays for 90-minute periods instead of the current 45-minute periods Monday through Friday.
The reasons given for the longer periods is they would give more time for exploring material and cut the time lost in changing classes without reducing the overall time teachers spend with students.
Combining the college and general classes was justified, in part, as a way of raising expections for vocational-level students and providing them good role models in the form of higher-achieving college-bound students.
Rowe said current educational research has shown that mixing students of different abilities in the classroom has many benefits for all students.
"We're going to do what's best for all kids," Rowe said. "We're not trying to make change just for change's sake."
Smith has written a three-page memorandum to other Christiansburg High School parents describing the proposed changes and the school's reasons for them and raising questions that she said administrators have yet to answer.
Some of Smith's questions include:
Why wasn't the school's PTA advised of the changes and asked for its advice?
Will the elimination of the college-level classes hurt the chances of Christiansburg students to get into college?
How will absences be handled? Would an absence from the longer periods count as two days missed toward a county policy that forbids students who miss 18 days from passing a course.
How will high-ability students be affected by grouping them with those of lower ability?
Those and other questions should be answered before the school moves forward with restructuring, Smith said.
Smith complained that eighth-grade teachers and guidance counselors at Christiansburg Middle School had not been told about the proposed changes at the high school.
The grouping of college-bound and general students in the same class is "something that obviously wasn't given a lot of thought," Gilley said. Porterfield and the teachers at the meeting didn't have answers for some of the parents' questions, he said.
Assistant Superintendent Sellers said Porterfield has been adamant that when the college and general courses are combined, they won't be "watered down to the lowest common denominator."
The new class structure shouldn't hurt the chances of students getting into college because the high school transcripts have to include a definition of the terms that are used for various class levels, Sellers said.
It's very important for all those who have a stake in a school to be involved in the planning, Sellers said. But, he said, not everyone is going to agree when changes are made.
"We still might have to slow the process down if we believe we haven't touched all the bases," Sellers said.
The School Board has not discussed restructuring other than in a brief and general way although board members have been told individually about some of what's been planned.
Sellers said a presentation has been ready for the board for over a month on the changes but hasn't been given because the board has been tied up with budget discussions.
Board Members Bob Goncz and Barry Worth said Wednesday morning that they hadn't heard any complaints from parents about the changes.
Goncz said that Porterfield had described the changes to him privately. As far as he was concerned the decision to make the changes would be up to the school but it would be important to keep the board informed about what was going on, Goncz said.
Worth said Robert Miller, principal at Auburn, had invited him to come out and talk about the changes planned there. Worth said he had wanted the board to discuss any changes before they were made.
The schools looked for ways to change what they are doing in anticipation that the state Department of Education would propose alternative ways of teaching high school students, something it has done already for elementary and middle schools, Sellers said. "This is in line with what the state is suggesting."
"If it's for the kids best interest . . . that's fine," Smith said of the changes. But she said she has grave concerns about anything done without involving the parents.
Gilley said he wouldn't argue that the curriculum changes would not work but they won't work at the pace the school is trying to make them.
"It's going to be a total fiasco and the students are going to be the big losers in this," he said.
by CNB