Education Positions – Draft of
Revisions/Deletions/Reorganization
A.Education Equity
1.
Definition
a) Educational opportunities must be available
to everyone regardless of race, gender, ability or socioeconomic status.
b) All students must meet recognized standards
of performance but not necessarily in the same time period.
c) All students should have equal access to
co-curricular activities.
2. Equity is an important goal for public
education.
3.
a) Busing with user fee waivers available for
low-income students (using public transportation whenever possible).
b) Open-enrollment when feasible.
c) All schools should offer comparable
educational opportunities.
B. Curriculum
1.
Primary
purpose is to create literate productive members of a democratic society.
2. Should foster a positive learning
environment that meets individual needs, encourages curiosity and develops
initiative and responsibility.
3. Guidance services made available to every
school, especially at the elementary level.
4. User fees to supplement co-curricular
programs. Fees should be nominal and not
exclude those unable to pay.
5. Continued alternative education programs
for students.
6. Skills and knowledge that require mastery
to achieve a high school diploma.
a) Basic skills – writing, reading, oral,
computation and technology.
b) Problem solving skills – research,
analysis, interpretation.
c) Liberal arts – humanities and fine arts,
social and natural sciences, foreign languages, financial life-skills and physical
education.
d) Comprehension of the political process.
e) Competency testing, with appropriate
curriculum for those in need of remediation.
f) Student assessment by professional
educators.
7. Appropriate education services should be
provided to every child with a disability or exceptional need.
8. A Gifted and Talented Program with the
following parameters: (1986)
a) Students selected for the program through a
combination of the following: peers,
parents, teachers, self-identification and objective testing.
b) The program should start in second grade
and continue through high school.
c) Its goal should be to allow each child to
develop his/her own individual potential to the utmost, leading to creative
productive adults.
d) All school at the same level (i.e. all
elementary schools) should have similar offerings. All schools involved in a gifted program
should have their own space and staff.
e) The director should have a graduate degree
in gifted education and the staff members should have specialized training.
f) Extensive in-service training and ongoing
training opportunities such as seminars and videotapes must be available to
regular classroom teachers.
9. Family Growth and Development curriculum
with the following parameters:
a) Materials should be available for parental
review.
b) The program should be required, but parents
should have the option to remove their child from portions of the program.
C. Staffing
1.
A 30
to 1 maximum student/teacher ratio for class size without an aide. This does not apply to special education
aides nor to elementary schools with unitized systems.
2. Class size should not be increased for
fiscal reasons.
3. A class should be offered at the secondary
level if a minimum of 15 students indicate interest.
4. Supervisory aides at all levels.
5. Each full-time media specialist to serve no
more than two schools.
6. Open and staff the LMC by a media
specialist or aide during school hours.
7. The concept of a building-centered
volunteer program.
D.Teaching quality
1.
Effective
hiring procedures include certification, references, and background checks with
an interviewing board made up of principals, teachers, and when appropriate,
representatives of specialized areas.
2. Competitive salaries (to other comparable
positions in
3. Effective and practical in-service grounded
in scientifically based research for professional development organized at both
the school and subject area level.
4. A formal system of evaluation of educators
by principals and, when appropriate, representatives of specialized areas. New teachers should be evaluated each year
for the first three years.
E. Administrative quality
1.
A
formal system of evaluation for both the central administration and school
principals with input from teachers and parents.
2. Periodic evaluation by outside consultants.
F. Organization
1.
Modifying
school boundaries as a means of balancing enrollment: Boundary changes should include consideration
of traffic and geographic problems, balancing school demographics, the
importance of school loyalty, and the need for continuity that would allow a
student to start and finish in the same school.
2. Avoid a piecemeal approach to solving
organizational problems.
G.Sites and Facilities
1.
Ongoing
maintenance program established and retained with money being set aside in the
budget.