Update from Indya - April 2008
More School Board news!
New Superintendent
On March 24th, following an extensive search and interview process, we selected Dr. James McIntyre to be our new Superintendent. We chose among many excellent candidates, but his experience and skills seemed like the best fit for moving us forward. I’m confident he’ll be an effective leader for our school system. If you’d like to read Dr. McIntyre’s resume, click
here. Thanks to those of you who gave your input during the search process.
We’ll be discussing Dr. McIntyre’s contract next Monday (4/7) and voting on it Wednesday (4/9). One thing I’d like to see as part of the contract is performance pay for meeting certain academic goals. I support performance pay for principals and teachers, and I think it should start at the top.
Fulton High School Re-Design - Community Meeting Tuesday April 8th, 6pm
Have you heard about the Fulton High School Re-Design? Are you wondering what it will mean for our children? For our community? To help answer those questions I’ve set up another community meeting on the Fulton Re-Design next Tuesday, April 8th, at 6pm at Fulton High School. There will be a brief presentation and then plenty of time for questions and answers. If you cannot attend this meeting in person, feel free to email me your questions and I will try to get them answered.
The general idea is to provide a more rigorous and relevant high school experience for Fulton students, to better prepare them for college and career. Below I’ll answer a few Frequently Asked Questions about the re-design:
1. Why is Fulton being re-designed?
The status quo is not working for too many Fulton students. No Child Left Behind laws require the school system to make changes at Fulton, but it’s also the right thing to do. Luckily the Fulton faculty and staff have been incredibly pro-active, planning this re-design for the past two years, well in advance of the NCLB mandates.
2. What will Fulton look like in August, 2008?
Fulton will include 4 separate schools within a school:
1. Freshman Experience
2. School of Health Sciences
3. School of Human Resources
4. School of Communications
There will also be new academic supports for Fulton students, including a 5th block, where students can take extra courses after the normal school-day ends, either for enrichment or to make-up a credit. Teachers will work more days and/or longer days, but be paid more too.
3. Have ROTC and Driver’s Education been eliminated?
NO. Initial plans called for the elimination of some courses because they were out-of-date, not relevant to college or career, under-subscribed, or a combination of those three factors. Many people expressed their concerns to me about the proposed elimination of ROTC and Driver’s Education. I worked with the administration and restored those courses for the coming school year.
4. Will there still be vocational courses in the re-designed Fulton?
YES. The redesign will buoy Fulton’s strong tradition of excellence in vocational education. Some courses will be eliminated, but others will be added. We give up breadth for depth. So a student may not be able to try 5-6 different introductory vocational courses, but they can take a series of courses, in plumbing for instance, and graduate with a license and real expertise in the field. The re-design plan recognizes that all students need a rigorous education no matter what path they take after high school.
5. What about A.P. and College Preparatory classes?
There will be more A.P. and College Preparatory courses at Fulton under the re-design. High academic standards will be embedded in all of the schools. The re-design is not just to help struggling students but to offer a more rigorous and relevant education for everyone, no matter where they are on the achievement spectrum.
More detailed questions are probably best answered by the Fulton faculty and principals, who have developed this plan over the last 2 years. There are going to be big changes, and changes are hard. Nevertheless, I’m convinced that the re-design effort will yield many positive benefits for Fulton students. I wouldn’t support it otherwise.
School Calendar Survey
We’re conducting a survey about school calendar options. Some people like the current calendar, others prefer alternatives. The Social Science Research Institute at the University of Tennessee is surveying a random group of parents, teachers, students and business owners for a statistically robust sample. We’re also encouraging those who are not part of the random survey to give their input via an on-line survey, which you can access
here.
All the calendar options include the same number of instructional days, 180, and the same number of teacher in-service days. It’s just a matter of how those days are allocated.
Congratulations to the Fulton Boys Basketball Team!
The boys’ basketball team won the state championship! My daughters and I were able to attend the game in Murfreesboro and it was amazing. The team rallied from an eight-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat Memphis Mitchell, 74-68. It was the first boys' basketball state title in Fulton's 57-season history and the first for Knox County in 21 years. Congratulations to Coach Jody Wright and the entire team!
Thanks for reading this update. As always, feel free to contact me with questions, comments or concerns.
Very Truly Yours,
Indya
