Friday, February 10, 2012
Proposal to unify school schedules, tweak content offerings passes on a 5-3 vote.
After weeks of controversy, the Howard County Board of Education late Thursday voted 5-3 to pass a proposed middle school program that eliminates formal reading classes in favor of project-based modules for some students and seminars and intervention programs for others. Three years of required reading instruction will be reduced to two quarters of instruction under the board's decision. The meeting began amid a side dispute in which one member asked to be allowed to participate electronically, sparking a heated exchange toward the end of the meeting. Brian Meshkin, who participated in the meeting by phone from California, changed his opposing vote of two weeks ago to one of support, joining board Chairwoman Sandy French, Vice Chairman …
Friday, January 27, 2012
Proposal has many 'exciting' components but kinks, as well, members say.
After nearly two and a half hours of discussions, clarifications and additional information from Howard County Public School System officials, Board of Education members on Thursday failed to decide the fate of proposed changes to the middle school instructional program. A final vote was postponed until next month. School system administrators told the board the proposal is in the best interest of students, will best serve to prepare them for college and careers, and puts schools in line with pending national curriculum changes. But members still had questions and concerns about the proposal, which would change the schedule from eight daily periods to seven, eliminate freestanding reading classes, increase physical education class time and…
Friday, January 13, 2012
The school board now must decide whether to move ahead with the plan.
Educators, parents and students have made known their feelings about a Howard County Public School System plan to cut middle school reading classes, and the Board of Education will make a final decision in less than two weeks. A public hearing was held Thursday in two segments. One at 5 p.m. was added to the agenda to accommodate the expected large crowd of educators, parents and students. The hearing continued at 7:30 p.m. after the school board's dinner break. Between the two sessions, nearly 30 speakers spoke out againt the proposal that calls for the elimination of standalone reading classes, additional physical education instruction time and the addition of world languages to the sixth-grade curriculum, according to Howard County …
Friday, November 11, 2011
The responsibility of teaching reading strategies would fall to teachers in other content areas.
Reading teachers in Howard County middle schools are being told they won't be teaching formal reading classes next year — a proposal that has sparked controversy among teacher advocates who are worried that basic education building blocks could be abandoned. The proposal, crafted by a county school system committee, recommends the elimination of reading classes. Reading teachers would then be reassigned in different capacities in other classes, which would absorb reading responsibilities, said Howard County school board member Brian Meshkin. The Howard County Education Association is among those concerned. On Nov. 8, the representative council — its policy-making body — unanimously passed a resolution stating its opposition to the proposal…
Ann Delacy
7:20 am on Sunday, March 4, 2012
Jack, I was administratively transferred from Owen Brown MS in 2002 for reporting on the principal to Dr. Cousin. I later discovered that the principal, Linda Carter, who was hired by HCPSS from Baltimore City because she was great at raising test scores, was the same person who supplied the bogus test scores for Michelle Rhee's advancement. Believe me, there is even more to that story. more ›