Parents Press School Board on Elementary Standards

Stephanie Zodun, mother of three, is concerned about the lack of a teacher for Northampton County Schools’ gifted and talented program at the K-3 level. (Wave photo)

By SARAH BARBAN
Cape Charles Wave

November 21, 2012

Northampton School Board chambers were unusually full for the November 13 meeting. Augmenting the ranks of board members and administrators were concerned parents and community members who came to air their grievances.

The audience waited through routine reports from principals, board members, and department heads. Then came the time for public comments — and parents assumed control of the floor.

The first issue was test scores at Kiptopeke Elementary. The school was conditionally accredited last year, and recently received conditional accreditation for this year as well. According to Northampton School Superintendent Walter Clemons, one percent of Kiptopeke students are dragging down test scores.

Cathy Burn is the mother of four boys, three of whom attend Kiptopeke. For her, test score data means more than just numbers on a page — it’s about real kids.

“I have great concerns — we’re not having discussions about real data,” she told the School Board meeting. “Fifty percent of our third-grade boys failed the reading test last year. Third-grade reading is a direct predictor of graduation. We are losing more than a handful of kids — it’s buckets of kids.”

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Not only did 50 percent of third-grade boys fail the reading test, but 61 percent of African-American children failed the reading test. Burn was concerned whether anything was being done about the daunting statistics.

“I wouldn’t be here talking about it today in an open meeting if I felt like it was being addressed at the building level and division level meetings as it should be,” she said.

Burn went on to point out that this is a longstanding problem at Kiptopeke.

“We are six years in the hole [on accreditation] at Kiptopeke,” she said.

Testing was also an issue for Emma Byce Ryan, a former teacher. Her concern was that elementary school students aren’t being taught cursive handwriting as they should be.

To some this would seem like an outdated issue, until the thought of a child not being able to write his signature is raised — not to mention the SAT requirement to write an agreement entirely in cursive.

Ryan’s granddaughter attends Occohannock Elementary and began to learn cursive at the end of 2nd grade. But in 3rd grade her class went through five teachers, none of whom taught any cursive.

“I thought it was because of the many teachers that were going through the system,” said Ryan. “We have two years of kids who have not been taught cursive writing.”

Teachers have had to resort to printing as well, because children can’t read their cursive.

Ryan said that when she approached Occohannock Elementary Principal Ron Yorko, she was told that cursive writing has gone by the wayside because of computers.

But Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) state:

SOL .2.11 The student will maintain legible printing and begin to make the transition to cursive.

SOL .3.8 The student will write legibly in cursive.

“We’re not teaching the SOLs that are state mandated. These kids in these two years have lost this life skill,” said Ryan, “What are we going to do this year?”

Another issue at the School Board meeting was the elementary school gifted and talented program (TAG). At the beginning of the school year one TAG teacher split her time between Occohannock and Kiptopeke elementary schools. But then she was reassigned to a 2nd grade classroom — and the TAG program was left without a K-3 teacher.

Stephanie Zodun, a mother at Occohannock, is making sure the problem is not ignored. She said that she followed the chain of command, first raising the issue at Occohannock, then with the superintendent, and now is bringing it before the entire school board.

But she has yet to see any progress.

“What’s Plan B? What are we going to do now?” Zodun asked the Board. “We’re at least five weeks in with no TAG services. If you took the time to test the kids, to meet their needs . . . . One of the aims of Title One is to close the achievement gap, but by ignoring the needs of your top-level students you are closing the achievement gap from the top down.”

The county is advertising for an accredited teacher with TAG credentials, but has yet to hire anyone.

Following Zodun’s questions, Superintendent Clemons said that if no teacher is found by the end of the month, an alternative plan would be formulated for TAG children.

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3 Responses to “Parents Press School Board on Elementary Standards”

  1. Bruce Lindeman on November 21st, 2012 7:26 am

    I feel for these parents and kids. The school issue is one reason — a big reason — why we haven’t given serious thought to moving to Cape Charles full time. We’re part-timers who live in Richmond during the week. So, write off my comments here if you will, but my concern is a real one: Northampton County would have a much easier time luring families like ours to move here if they could fix their schools.

    I understand that it all comes down to revenue. Northampton is the 2nd poorest county in the Commonwealth. However, revenue is only one lever that the county has at its control. The Board of Supervisors needs to determine what the top priorities are with the funds available and ensure that budget monies are allocated accordingly. Between public education for our children and caring for our elderly/disabled, you probably have 80% of the county’s need covered right there.

    For example, instead of buying a new truck for the County, consider buying a used one or fix the one you already have. Likewise, the charge should be that all County agencies should look for ways to trim their budgets. Municipal government should be lean and efficient. If it’s not, something’s wrong.

    The county needs to constantly look at how to also increase revenue. If not by taxes, then by attracting more people to live here, by carefully planned development, and by attracting new business and providing incentives for growth for those that are already here. More jobs, more people, more revenue, more money available for things like TAG teachers. This stuff isn’t new. It’s just stuff the county hasn’t been able to execute very well — but they need to.

    Education is the root of the problem for us, not just locally, but nationally. If we want to reduce the number of people on public assistance, medical costs and the resultant burden on us all for the costs associated with paying for chronic disease treatment, and servicing our ever-growing prison population, we need to better educate our children.

    Educated children become educated adults and are more likely to make better choices and to be better prepared for pursuing better paying careers — and thus ending the cycle of poverty.

    Properly funding education is an investment in our future. When we determine that a new office chair, truck, holiday party, etc. is more important than educating our kids, we’ve taken a very wrong turn. Accreditation is not a “nice to have” it is a “must” and a priority. If the county isn’t pursuing fixing this with every fiber of effort, then they should be held accountable. The kids — the future — of Northampton County is at stake.

  2. Gwyn Coghill on November 21st, 2012 9:40 pm

    I appreciated reading Mr. Lindeman’s comments. He made many good points on the future of Northampton County. As a come-here to Northampton County for the last 40 years, I have seen the school system’s “fall from grace” first hand. When Northampton was THE POOREST county in the state, we had 4 Virginia Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence and 3 of those schools were National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence.

    What happened? Change in leadership happened. During my time here, the school system has employed 5 school superintendents. Two were long-term superintendents serving 20+ years and 14 years. These superintendents invested themselves in Northampton County and the school system flourished. Their objective was “to grow their own” teachers and administrators — people who would also be invested in the community in which they lived.

    In the last 10 years, we have seen the hiring of 3 superintendents and the departure of 2 superintendents. Their short tenures have left the school system without continuity, collaborative leadership, respect of teachers, and a committment to the community. Instead of working and living in the community, our current superintendent, 2 principals, 1 assistant principal, 1 central office administrator, and many teachers currently commute from across the bay. Where were they when two buses had accidents and parents and students needed reassurance? Where were they when “our” community was in the path of a hurricane and shelters were opened in our schools? Were they invested enough to be in the trenches with the rest of us?

    The above article also mentioned the failure of the schools to teach cursive writing although it is listed in the Standards of Leaning Objectives that must be taught. Why is it not taught? The answer is simple. Teachers are required to focus on the core subjects that are tested by the state. Cursive writing is not tested, therefore it takes a back seat to English, math, history, and science because they are tested.

    Mr. Lindeman is correct. Kids are our future, and we as a community, state, and nation must decide what’s more important — teaching to the test or giving our kids the skills necessary for them to be contributing members of society.

  3. Gwyn Coghill on November 26th, 2012 11:30 pm

    After rereading my comment, I would like to add the following. Just throwing money at a problem is not the answer. Informed decisions made by the head educational leader along with input from teachers, staff, parents, and school board should be taken into consideration when formulating a school budget. Requesting and spending more money doesn’t “fix” the problem. It’s not how much money we invest in education or other departments, but how wisely we spend the money that is budgeted. We cannot spend what we do not have, and in today’s economy, all county and state departments need to tighten their belts.