Focus Group 5/6 Specials

Pages:
1
…
4
5

Focus Group 5/6 Specials; Specials offered to Upper Elementaries
Tweet Topic Started: Mar 15 2006, 07:17 AM (3,018 Views)
Mom2Three	Mar 16 2006, 09:07 PM Post #61
6th Grade Posts: 34 Group: Members Member #133 Joined: November 16, 2005	I am very disappointed that the 5/6 configuration will eliminate a recess....why is this? During the focus group meeing the panel explained to us that the 5/6 schools will be run as an elementary school, but how is eliminating a recess treating the 5/6 configuration as an elementary school?? Many of the specials sounded interesting, however, I would like to see the basics that the kids have now such as art and music kept. I do not agree with the IT special that is being considered...to advanced for 5th and 6th graders...the basics should still be taught at this age..why are we trying to advance our kids so fast - they grow up so fast as it is...they just need the basics of education and recess. Just my opinion. It will be interesting to find out how the teachers meeting regarding the specials went.



Cindi	Mar 16 2006, 09:39 PM Post #62
Principal Posts: 460 Group: Members Member #10 Joined: October 24, 2005	Mom2Three Mar 16 2006, 09:07 PM I am very disappointed that the 5/6 configuration will eliminate a recess....why is this? During the focus group meeing the panel explained to us that the 5/6 schools will be run as an elementary school, but how is eliminating a recess treating the 5/6 configuration as an elementary school?? Many of the specials sounded interesting, however, I would like to see the basics that the kids have now such as art and music kept. I do not agree with the IT special that is being considered...to advanced for 5th and 6th graders...the basics should still be taught at this age..why are we trying to advance our kids so fast - they grow up so fast as it is...they just need the basics of education and recess. Just my opinion. It will be interesting to find out how the teachers meeting regarding the specials went. I disagree with your IT thoughts. Children attend computer lab currently. Our society is changing and our high school requirements (state and federal standards) are changing with the times. Children do need to know about technology, they interact with technology on a daily basis whether it is at home or school. Video games, remote control for the TV, cell phones, internet, digital cameras, video cameras---Marc Prensky (a noted author) has described our kids as "Digital Natives". I'd have to agree. All the more reason why they should still have recess...there needs to be a balance for these children and adults could learn from the balance as well. I do agree that kids grow up too fast and they should be allowed to be kids. K-6 configuration is the main reason we have stayed in Livonia. I liked the fact that these 11 yrs old can transition to 12 and not to 15 yrs of age in the sixth grade.



Mom2Three	Mar 17 2006, 09:06 PM Post #63
6th Grade Posts: 34 Group: Members Member #133 Joined: November 16, 2005	During the focus group someone had mentioned that lunch time will be decreased in the 5/6 school. Can anybody verify this....Thank you



ktmom	Mar 18 2006, 12:21 AM Post #64
Principal Posts: 520 Group: Members Member #72 Joined: November 2, 2005	Mom2Three Mar 17 2006, 09:06 PM During the focus group someone had mentioned that lunch time will be decreased in the 5/6 school. Can anybody verify this....Thank you The kids already say they never have enough time to eat lunch.



c3hull	Mar 18 2006, 01:12 AM Post #65
Principal Posts: 1,422 Group: Members Member #17 Joined: October 25, 2005	ktmom Mar 18 2006, 12:21 AM Mom2Three Mar 17 2006, 09:06 PM During the focus group someone had mentioned that lunch time will be decreased in the 5/6 school. Can anybody verify this....Thank you The kids already say they never have enough time to eat lunch. I have heard the same thing. My daughter has explained how the kids near the end of the lunch line don't have much time to eat. If they're not done eating when the bell rings, they miss a little bit of recess and stuff their food down as fast as they can. I always tell her to enjoy her food and not to eat like she hasn't seen food in days. If they are truly shortening the lunch period, this will just be one more negative to this LI mess!



rand03	Mar 18 2006, 09:00 PM Post #66
6th Grade Posts: 31 Group: Members Member #178 Joined: December 5, 2005	I attended the 5/6 focus group special meeting and I must admit I walked away with a far different perception of the meeting than some have indicated on this thread. To me, it was a clear attempt to placate parents who wanted to be more involved. The most frustrating thing about the entire evening is that no guidelines or parameters were given nor was my facilitator able to answer any questions. I�d like to ask, �what good are our responses when we weren�t given the necessary information upon which to draw insightful, thoughtful, intelligent, and educated decisions/opinions?� From my perspective the entire process was a complete farce. Now, I will try to back up my opinions with facts: In order to answer the questions given to us, we weren�t told how many specials the children were going to be offered. We weren�t informed as to whether or not we were making these decisions based on giving up recess, or at the sacrifice of current core curriculum time, or at the expense of even the current specials now being offered. Are we choosing just one special per grade, or several specials per grade? How will they be structured? How often per week will the students attend a special? Will they be offered per �semester� or throughout the year? Furthermore, I didn�t interpret the panel to be indicating that the specials the children currently have will be maintained or enhanced, but rather all the specials are on the table to be considered OR taken away. If this was a matter of �priorities� we weren�t given enough details on which to make an informed choice. There were no guarantees or reassurances about anything. The only absolute stated is as follows, quoted from the written material we were all provided at the meeting: �The two classes listed below will be offered to both fifth and sixth grade students: � Health and Physical Education- A full year for all students � Instrumental Music - A full year as a class that students can choose. Below is a list of the special area classes that are being CONSIDERED for next school year (emphasis mine): � Studio Art � Computer Graphics � Information Technology � Vocal/General Music � Exploratory World Language� Technically, we could lose art and music for the enhanced specials of IT and world languages. If enough people �voted� for these specials, than yes those specials could be adopted. What was not made clear is at what expense are we making these decisions about the specials. Also, why was it determined to have instrumental music as the mandated special for both 5th and 6th grades, when many people feel that art, computers, and/or recess is more important than instrumental music? And is it really necessary to offer instrumental music to the 5th graders at all especially if they will lose out on the basic specials or recess? Once again, we clearly need to have all the information on the table in order to provide valid input, otherwise we are just offering an empty opinion. Example: If the following question was posed- �Would you want to see 6th grade moved into the middle school with 7th and 8th graders? "No," the majority answers. Then they come back to everyone and say, "okay, we listened- we created a new 5/6 school instead." The more legitimate question would have been �would you rather have a 5/6 school or 6-8 school if those were our only two options?� With more information the more accurate assessment can be made. I hope most will understand the point I am trying to make�and sorry in advance to those I have offended whom walked away from the 5/6 focus groups thinking �warm and fuzzy� thoughts about the administration�s efforts at full disclosure and parental involvement. While I had high hopes of offering meaningful input for the sake of my children, it just ended up being another lesson in frustration.



grantmom	Mar 18 2006, 09:14 PM Post #67
Principal Posts: 288 Group: Members Member #176 Joined: December 5, 2005	thank you for your reply.....I have to say you said exactly what I felt when I left the meeting.



NFarquharson	Mar 18 2006, 09:17 PM Post #68
Principal Posts: 4,311 Group: Members Member #103 Joined: November 9, 2005	rand03 Mar 18 2006, 09:00 PM I attended the 5/6 focus group special meeting and I must admit I walked away with a far different perception of the meeting than some have indicated on this thread. To me, it was a clear attempt to placate parents who wanted to be more involved. The most frustrating thing about the entire evening is that no guidelines or parameters were given nor was my facilitator able to answer any questions. I�d like to ask, �what good are our responses when we weren�t given the necessary information upon which to draw insightful, thoughtful, intelligent, and educated decisions/opinions?� From my perspective the entire process was a complete farce. Now, I will try to back up my opinions with facts: In order to answer the questions given to us, we weren�t told how many specials the children were going to be offered. We weren�t informed as to whether or not we were making these decisions based on giving up recess, or at the sacrifice of current core curriculum time, or at the expense of even the current specials now being offered. Are we choosing just one special per grade, or several specials per grade? How will they be structured? How often per week will the students attend a special? Will they be offered per �semester� or throughout the year? Furthermore, I didn�t interpret the panel to be indicating that the specials the children currently have will be maintained or enhanced, but rather all the specials are on the table to be considered OR taken away. If this was a matter of �priorities� we weren�t given enough details on which to make an informed choice. There were no guarantees or reassurances about anything. The only absolute stated is as follows, quoted from the written material we were all provided at the meeting: �The two classes listed below will be offered to both fifth and sixth grade students: � Health and Physical Education- A full year for all students � Instrumental Music - A full year as a class that students can choose. Below is a list of the special area classes that are being CONSIDERED for next school year (emphasis mine): � Studio Art � Computer Graphics � Information Technology � Vocal/General Music � Exploratory World Language� Technically, we could lose art and music for the enhanced specials of IT and world languages. If enough people �voted� for these specials, than yes those specials could be adopted. What was not made clear is at what expense are we making these decisions about the specials. Also, why was it determined to have instrumental music as the mandated special for both 5th and 6th grades, when many people feel that art, computers, and/or recess is more important than instrumental music? And is it really necessary to offer instrumental music to the 5th graders at all especially if they will lose out on the basic specials or recess? Once again, we clearly need to have all the information on the table in order to provide valid input, otherwise we are just offering an empty opinion. Example: If the following question was posed- �Would you want to see 6th grade moved into the middle school with 7th and 8th graders? "No," the majority answers. Then they come back to everyone and say, "okay, we listened- we created a new 5/6 school instead." The more legitimate question would have been �would you rather have a 5/6 school or 6-8 school if those were our only two options?� With more information the more accurate assessment can be made. I hope most will understand the point I am trying to make�and sorry in advance to those I have offended whom walked away from the 5/6 focus groups thinking �warm and fuzzy� thoughts about the administration�s efforts at full disclosure and parental involvement. While I had high hopes of offering meaningful input for the sake of my children, it just ended up being another lesson in frustration. I completely understand your point. Although I was not there (since there is no way my kids will attend a giant 5/6 school anyhow,) this manipulation of words, lack of clarity and spinning of stories is what we have been experiencing since the day this LI was announced. Examples: Using the words "learning configuration" in the April 2005 Dialog about the Demolition Committee. That way they can SAY they told us the grade configuration would possibly change when in reality nothing in that article was clear and most thought they were talking about a couple of schools closing and some boundry changes at most. Making it sound as though the District Transition Committee picked the start times when they didn't by carefully wording your communications to imply but not specifically say that they did. Answering questions like, "Will there be enough SACC rooms to meet the demand?" with non-answers like, "There will be SACC at every elementary school." Joanne Morgan's speech about how having four different start times for schools is not the same as a four-tier bus schedule, which allegedly the Demolition Committee rejected. Who cares what you call it?...the effect is the same! Lack of clarity about details at every corner: "We might do this," "we are considering these," "we may offer that," and we will save approximately this much." EVERYTHING about this is set up such that if they do not deliver on something, they can go back and say, "Well, we said might/may/considering/approximately/estimated blah, blah, blah! When will it stop??? And there are people who wonder why we no longer trust the administration or the BOE!



pkm	Mar 18 2006, 09:24 PM Post #69
Principal Posts: 50 Group: Members Member #101 Joined: November 8, 2005	Rand03, I came out of the focus group with the same feelings. It was difficult to give feedback on the specials not knowing how often that class would be held per week. It was hard to give an opinion not knowing what program might be sacrificed.



Elisa	Mar 18 2006, 10:31 PM Post #70
Principal Posts: 607 Group: Members Member #64 Joined: October 31, 2005	Just wondering, to those who attended the focus groups: who lead them? was that leader able to answer your questions, give clarification?



Mom2Three	Mar 19 2006, 10:45 AM Post #71
6th Grade Posts: 34 Group: Members Member #133 Joined: November 16, 2005	Rand03 - I could not agree with you more about the focus group meeting. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person but was very confused about this focus group. I understand that we were supposedly giving feedback about the proposed specials but we were given no further information other than a description of each proposed special. The department heads were so kind to read to us basically verbatim what we already had in front of us on a handout. Other than that no other information was provided to us such as the number of specials, the number of times per week a special will be offered, and are these specials taking the place of the second recess and why? The only information we received regarding a special that is currenly in the curriculum was in regards to library. Mrs. Alles stated that library is no longer a special and that the individual teachers will be taking their class to library. The standard answer from the panel, primarily Mrs. Alles, was that the details were still being worked out. I also found it interesting that our replies to the questions were recorded by a recorder. I do not understand why we did not fill out a questionnaire and turn them it. Elisa - the groups were lead by a moderator who in my groups case was not able to answer any of the above questions that I had.



schoolmomfor3	Mar 19 2006, 11:14 AM Post #72
Principal Posts: 111 Group: Members Member #337 Joined: March 7, 2006	I was wondering for those parents that could not make the Focus meeting, Why can't the administration send home a survey in every kids backpack, so we could all have a say which specials we would like to see.



Grant1	Mar 19 2006, 01:48 PM Post #73
We have just begun to fight! Posts: 3,167 Group: Members Member #117 Joined: November 14, 2005	schoolmomfor3 Mar 19 2006, 11:14 AM I was wondering for those parents that could not make the Focus meeting, Why can't the administration send home a survey in every kids backpack, so we could all have a say which specials we would like to see. I would assume if they did that, and ignored it again, they would be making a similar mistake as the initially ignored survey regarding grade configuaration changes. In either case with what we have seen/heard so far, the decision most likely has already been made, and they are only seeking support/confirmation from those involved in the TT's and Focus Groups.


« Previous Topic · Livonia Neighbors Archive · Next Topic »

Pages:
1
…
4
5