Students Speak Out About Intermediate School Changes

The administration has spoken. The district parents have had their turn.

But tonight at the Board of Education's regular meeting, students who would be affected by proposed changes to the Intermediate School schedule are taking their turn.

Reports are coming in that at least 15 Intermediate School students who would be most affected by proposed changes that would bump at least one music instructional period from the regular school day are lined up to speak at the school board meeting, being held right now at the Intermediate School.

A full story will be posted as details become available. Please check back.

The school, along with Wall High School, has been designated a “School In Need Of Improvement,’’ by the state Department of Education -- a designation given to schools that fail to make progress on standardized tests for two or more consecutive years.

The district is proposing expanding to 80 minutes each the language and mathematics instruction in grades six and seven for the upcoming school year. Eighth grade students would have their math and language instruction bumped up to 60 minutes each.

. Pupils enrolled in music would also be pulled from gym class once a week and could opt to cut short their 40-minute lunch period for music practice, administrators have said.

The district on and of last week held public meetings to discuss the scheduling plans, which were first brought to the public’s attention not by the district but by an email from a district parent. That email .

At , which was held in the Intermediate School auditorium at 9 a.m., district officials faced an occasionally hostile crowd that was calmed mainly by a short speech by Wall High School Music teacher Leslie Hollander, who said of the two choices, the music teachers agreed that a before-school option would be best for the continuation of the music program, which include band, orchestra and chorus.

That apparently changed the minds of many at the meeting, who showed support for the before-school option by an impromptu straw poll near the conclusion of the 2 ½-hour session.

The crowd of about 50 at was more amiable, with several parents praising the district’s efforts to improve testing stature at the Intermediate School, even if it was inconvenient to some students.

At that meeting MaryJane Garibay, district curriculum director, said the district's entire curriculum was being revised to address, among other things, the school's lagging test scores.