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Board opposes universal start date
Troy City BOE passes resolution against statewide school start date
Published Monday, January 26, 2009
KENDRA MAJORS
A resolution to oppose a universal school start date was passed at Monday night’s meeting of the Troy City Schools.
This resolution comes in response to bill that will go before the state legislature during the February legislative session.
According to Superintendent Dr. Linda Felton-Smith, Troy City Schools along with other school systems across the state would like to keep the school start date a local decision rather than have a statewide school start date.
Board members expressed the importance of letting local legislators know how their constituents feel about this issue.
“It’s important that we all contact our legislators,” Board member Roxie Kitchens said.
Felton-Smith said that business and tourism advocates are the main groups that want this bill passed.
A copy of the resolution will be sent to Representative Alan Boothe, D-Troy and Sen. Wendell Mitchell, R-Luverne, Alabama Association of School Boards and Gov. Bob Riley.
For the freshman class beginning fall 2009, parents will have to sign an opt out form in order for a student not to participate in the advanced diploma program.
Troy City Schools will offer an honors endorsement to the statewide advanced diploma program.
The program will consist of tougher courses in all the core subjects, including AP courses, global studies courses and ACCESS courses.
Felton-Smith said that counselors would come to Charles Henderson Middle School to take with students, but there would be a parent meeting beforehand.
Other changes would include credit recovery, which will be a program for students who fail a class to retake the portion that they were lacking in not the whole class.
To be eligible a student would have to make a 40 or higher to do this and the highest that could be made would be a 70.
Students will also have the opportunity for credit advancement, where a student and parents could meet with a teacher and decide that the student was ready to move on.
If this action is decided, an end of course test will be administered. The student will be expected to have at least an 80 average to take this route.
Three students from Spanish III and IV were on hand to talk about the Spanish Immersion project they participate in every year.
Melanie Sims, president of the Spanish Club, Katie Blocher and Devan Beitel presented a slideshow to the board to tell about their experiences with the Spanish Immersion project.
During this two-day event, students are only allowed to speak Spanish and no English is allowed.
If English is used a student will be sent home or back to school depending on the time.
Throughout the two-day program, every student is required to participate in every activity in Spanish.
According to Sims, the greatest part is realizing when you can speak Spanish in an everyday setting, or dreaming in Spanish.
According to Merkel, when the weekend is over, students have a difficult time speaking English.
January is Board Recognition Month, at the meeting; Felton-Smith presented board members with a certificate of appreciation.
According to Felton-Smith, the board members do not receive compensation for their time, but they all believe in education.
The board members we also presented pieces of artwork from the fifth-grade art class and gift baskets from CHMS.
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Comments
Posted by yatta (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 12:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There seems to more than one exaggeration in this article. I will leave you guys to figure out were they are by yourselves.
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 5:51 a.m. (Suggest removal)
So why exactly it is a bad idea for all schools to start on the same day if it could be good for the state economy? Those quoted in the article did not give any reason other than they just want to "keep it local".
Posted by shiftingshadows (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 6:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
the decision needs to stay local... why does the state need to take over? just big government trying to become bigger and more powerful? .... taking more power away from the local government...
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 7:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well since the state is paying the $6,000,000,000.00 education budget tab for public schools in Alabama, I would think they would have at least some say in how local schools are run, especially if they think something as simple as having them all start on the same day would help the state's economy. And again, what difference would it make if every school started on the same day?
Posted by shiftingshadows (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 8:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
if troy wants to start on a different day than the rest of the state what would that hurt...
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I did my own research. It's not the legislature; it's the business community wanting to bring people back from summer vacations earlier so they spend money in Alabama during that time instead of other states like Florida. It messes up the local schools ability to have scheduling flexibility. Not sure how much tax revenue that would generate, but now I understand both sides of the argument.
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 10:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
However, as bad as times are and expected to be worse next year, the state needs all the extra money it can get to keep giving the local schools what they need. Therefore I would think the local school would be willing to suffer a little scheduling inconvenience if it could keep them from having to do things like lay people off. Depending of course on how much extra revenue this would actually generate.
Posted by towngirl (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 3:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think the main focus should be directed toward the education the children will be receiving and making sure each child target is above the average level. Who cares what time of the year they start and what they wear (uniforms) to school as long as the children get their education. I think you if they want to focus on something it should be trying to keep schools open the way the economy is headed this day & time. Cut all this non-sense spending!!!!
Posted by turtle (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 6:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
One of the reasons schools (such as Pike County and Troy City) like having the start date when it is, is due to receiving test scores so they can assess where there school is at, what areas need to be worked on, etc. The only thing about a universal start date is if schools in southern Alabama start at the same time as those in northern Alabama yet those in the northern area that often deal with closures due to snow days how will that then affect the southern? When you open the door it brings in a series of problems.
Posted by YEM (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 6:43 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's agreeing on a start-date, not an end date. If the northern schools want to adjust the end date to include snow days, let them. That's really not an argument for not agreeing on a start-date. Help the economy because the education budget is based on sales tax.
I think it's odd that you have to opt out of the Honors program. I would think that the majority of students would be on the regular system, not honors. If everybody is on honors, then how does that put you ahead?
Lastly, I'm really tired of all of the grammatical errors in the Troy Messenger. While you may find some in my posts, I am not a paid journalist. It's really embarrassing that the Messenger doesn't put forth enough effort to edit their paper.
Posted by shiftingshadows (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 7:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
very true ghost...
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 8:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I see Nurse Ratched let the residents escape from the nervous hospital again.
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 27, 2009 at 9:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"There's these two fellers uh-standin' on a bridge. I believe one of 'em come form Arkansas...get it?"
Posted by shiftingshadows (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 2:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
i have to agree with thegame... showdown you always change the topic when you cant answer a question... its pretty lame... must be a tactic you learned while mopping the mensa bathroom floor...
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 5:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
'It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again...yes it does, Precious, it gets the hose."
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 5:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Ghost/game/shifting/CarlChilders/JamieGum/escapee: How do you type with that straight jacket on?
Posted by regls (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 5:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey, you guys started this. Just because I am an Atheist you attacked me.
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 5:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
regIs? with a capital "I"? Cute. Ghost, get some help dude. Seriously. Or at least a hobby that does not involve sharp objects or projectiles.
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 5:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
By the way, genius, I am not VOR. I am also not showdown. Can you not get that through that thick skull of yours? Or are the meds making your synapses sporadically fire at random?
Posted by regls (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 5:54 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Obviously someone does want to be me you moron. Get it through your thick head. Don't you see that idiot with the l instead of the i in regis? Obviously my screen name is regis and someone wants to be me and put a l. Learn to read and use common sense you no life loser.
Posted by regls (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 6:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This message not posted by regis to save The Messenger the trouble of having to remove it.
Posted by alma (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 6:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
As I understand it, the honors program is now required by everyone. To get out of it, a student and his/her parents must ask in writing.
It's a step up, not down.
The problem that bothers me is that grade recovery thing. If you fail, you should get the F.
Posted by regis (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 7:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well if that is the case, Ghost, then whomever "thegame" is, is having fun with both of us. I apologize if that is not you. I promise you that I am NOT showdown or VOR or anybody else other than "regis" (with a little "i").
Posted by YEM (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 10:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually, I think regIs wants people to think that it's regis pretending to be attacked. Same thing happened with showdown and showd0wn. I can see that some of you want to call regis a loser because he doesn't agree with you, but the real loser is someone who has enough time to get on the Messenger website and pretend to be some other person on here...that they don't even know.
It's beyond pathetic.
Seriously, someone like regis or showdown, who has a different opinion than the majority of people on here, obviously doesn't care that people don't agree with them. Why would they develop another screen name to hide who they are?
This is so stupid and pathetic.
Posted by YEM (anonymous) on January 28, 2009 at 2:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
great post, VoR.
I think the BoE is really reaching by using test scores as an excuse. They don't really have any other reason for avoiding the collective start date. Again, most of school funding is based on the money that comes from sales tax. Therefore, helping the economy raises the income that can be used towards the education budget.
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