CMS Review Plan Off To Rocky Start
“This comes out as much more than what I thought we were going to do,” McElrath said, adding that at the same time the review didn’t cover ground he thought needed to be addressed. He was especially critical that the review process didn’t include specific plans to engage teachers for feedback.
What it does include is four one-and-a-half hour community forums crunched into a one-week time schedule and loaded with up to 30 additional hours of board work sessions.
The forums are slated for: Monday, June 21, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Harding High; Tuesday, June 22, during the board’s regularly scheduled meeting; Thursday, June 24, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at South Meck High; and Monday, June 28, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Hopewell High. CMS also plans to have a website where people can post comments and suggestions on how to improve district operations.
“This all seems a day late and a dollar short,” said board member Kaye McGarry, who was concerned that the community forums would be perceived as a disingenuous attempt to solicit public opinion and dialogue, without providing enough time or notice for either.
“This is work we should have been all last winter and fall,” McGarry said, “and now we want to rush it through in a few weeks.”
Board Chairman Eric Davis, one of the driving forces along with Superintendent Peter Gorman plotting the review initiative, said he understood the board’s concerns and as much as conceded that he could have done a better job at keeping members informed about the scope and timeline of the process.
But even that seems to be an evolving venture. Tuesday night, Davis said that he still wasn’t sure exactly how the community forums would be conducted.
The review plans did receive support from some board members. While sharing concerns about the review’s compressed timeline, Tom Tate said it was important to not delay the process. The district, he said, needs to develop new ways to deal with “a new normal” of operating with less funding without jeopardizing student achievement.
Board member Rhonda Lennon said a comprehensive review would give the board an opportunity to do “major surgery” on reform efforts, instead of “putting Band-Aids on very large wounds.” Lennon dismissed any concerns about public perception of rushing through the process.
“The nine people sitting here right now,” she said of the school board, “we can drive public perception and let them know that this is a genuine procedure, that this in not something where we’re trying to pull the wool over their eyes.”
Merchant remained cautiously skeptical over a review process and schedule that, he said, want mandated to the board without any board input.
“I still don’t understand the scope of what we’re supposed to review,” Merchant said. “But if it’s as big as I think it is, then I am terrified about the timeline.”
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