If you attended the JAMS meeting this evening in the Jane Addams building, please share your thoughts and have a conversation about it!
Here is a link to the materials: Dec. 11 JAMS Meeting Materials
If you missed the meeting, don't worry -- there will be another with the same agenda next Wednesday, December 18, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the Jane Addams building.
As always, please review and adhere to our posting guidelines.
The meeting was well-attended, with many more parents than chairs. I am impressed with the principal. She's spent a lot of time strategizing the opening of the school, including meeting with teachers from other schools, meeting with parents, planning the limited renovations that are going to happen, etc. She seems committed to meeting the needs of all the students, from special ed to advanced learners.
ReplyDeleteHer plan is to have a comparable education offered as is offered at either Eckstein or Hamilton, with a full complement of academics, athletics, music, etc. She is in regular contact with Mr. Escobedo from Eckstein's music program as he works to let her know what will be needed for the music program.
Her handicap right now is not knowing how many or which students will be coming next year. Enrollment told her to expect 600-900 students (yes, we all laughed at that huge range). She doesn't know how many special ed students, advanced students, band students, orchestra students, etc. are coming. However, she said that since the music teachers at Eckstein and Hamilton are in close contact with their current students, they will be able to tell her with a good amount of accuracy what the 7th-8th grade music group distributions will be.
I'll let others add to this...
Beth D
I am very impressed with Paula and her ability to handle difficult and emotional questions. I am sure it's not easy for families with children that are getting pulled out of Eckstein or Hamilton, she did a great job answering those questions, hearing the families. It an indication she can handle this huge task of starting a middle school and I feel confident that she will do it well. I am also very excited about what the JAMS campus has to offered. It is a large building with a very nice theater, 2 gyms. I am concerned that the lunch room could be bit small for the kids, but they are having a K-8 there now and there might be a plan to expand. Ginger
ReplyDeleteThere was some discussion around facilities and what would be in place next fall. The improvements are being done over three years, so not all spaces will be redone for next year. They plan on adding 2 science labs to JAK8's 4, but the other 2 won't be added until the following year. Same goes for the extra music room. It won't be in place until the 2015 school year. They will be expanding the lunchroom for next year. The school capacity is supposed to be 980 when upgrades are completed, though somewhat lower until then.
ReplyDeleteAs far as academic offerings, it's still unclear what will be offered in terms of electives. Spanish and Japanese, yes, but French is still unknown. It seemed to depend on numbers of current students, but they haven't polled 5th graders about their preferences. Some parents and students asked about computer classes, jazz choir, robotics, and electives for those not in band/orchestra. There will be math up through Algebra 2. A few parents asked about Advanced learning/Spectrum for students not in APP and they were told Spectrum students will be attending JAMS, but the principal didn't come out and say they would have a Spectrum program. She discussed students being single subject qualified (for example, APP qualified for LA/SS and not math?). Then it almost sounded as if there was a possibility of Spectrum students being in APP LA/SS classes. There was some dancing around certain questions and some noncommittal responses from the Executive Director. A parent asked if there would be funds for extra teacher collaboration time over the summer so teachers could have more in place from day one, but it did not seem to be a budgeted item. An attendee suggested emailing Board members about the need for funds for teacher collaboration.
There was an additional question about fundraising over the summer so there would be funds at the beginning of the school year (I'm sure direct donations would be appreciated once a PTA is formed).
-JS
I thought Paula seemed really impressive. There were a lot of unknowns still due to the district not compiling all the information. What was nice was that she intends to have monthly meetings so hopefully as all the open questions get settled everyone will get updates. It sounds like once the staff hiring starts over the next few weeks and going forward more concrete planning will occur.
ReplyDeleteMy one recurring thought was that it would be helpful to get the special education delivery model settled as early as possible. Listening to the few parent who spoke about their children, I felt that this was a critical need.
Ben
JS,
ReplyDeleteAs I'm sure Ms. Montgomery is aware, all attendance area middle schools are required to provide a Spectrum program. Are you sure she was talking about APP when she mentioned single-subject acceleration? I ask because there is no way (currently) to be APP-qualified in one subject. She could group single-subject advanced students in classes with Spectrum students though.
No, I wasn't sure, but the vagueness around the response left open several possibilities. More definition and clarity around AL service delivery is definitely needed. There currently is a task force around AL identification, and then there will be another on service delivery. Maybe single-subject qualification (and blended APP/Spectrum) classes are a possibility, but there were no definite statements offered. Yes, a student can be APP qualified in a single subject (meaning they have the scores), they just aren't served at the APP level unless they qualify for both math and verbal cutoffs. The exception is math. A student can accelerate in math, to an APP level, even if they are only Spectrum qualified in the verbal component. They can also accelerate in math to the Spectrum level, even if they aren't Spectrum qualified in the verbal component. The question is whether they will do the same for LA/SS.
ReplyDelete-JS
Did the interim principal mention her rejection of the APP Curriculum as presented by an APP parent involved in the design of that curriculum? The rejection of blocking? The implementation of 'teaming' to replace blocking but one that will require all teachers to have two preps as the current contract does not allow for a principal to program the planning times of staff? These have all been communicated separately to parents and curious staff but not provided outright so I'd like to know if they are true, being hidden, or false.
ReplyDelete-Considering.
@Considering
ReplyDeleteMs. Montgomery is serving as the JAMS Planning Principal this year, and she will become the Principal (not an interim principal) when the school opens next Fall.
At the community meeting, she did mention the possibility of using a "team" approach, where teachers share approximately 120 students. She also mentioned the possibility of an advisory program where all students have a teacher mentor.
-KM
The APP curriculum is the program, so how can the principal reject it? It's a good question for next meeting. And are you suggesting LA and SS won't be blocked? That's part of the APP curriculum design. Holy cow. What can parents count on, APP or not?
ReplyDelete-worried
Will there be an art class elective?
ReplyDeleteArt
My kid hasn't had LA/SS blocked both years at HIMS (2 different teachers each year), so not sure why folks are getting upset about it potentially happening at JAMS.
ReplyDeleteMy son had an LA/SS block for his 6th and 7th grade years at Jane Addams K-8, but they went to separate LA and SS classes, with different teachers, for his 8th grade year (this year). I'm not sure why they decided to try something different this year. I do know that class scheduling has been problematic for his class cohort, which is pretty small (approx 60 kids), so maybe unblocking helped with that? I'd appreciate learning more about the pros and cons of blocking.LA/SS, for APP and non-APP students.
ReplyDelete-KM
With the overcrowding at Hamilton, I believe it was not possible to keep all LA/SS classes blocked with a single teacher. One teacher may have classes 1st-5th periods, while another has classes 2nd-6th periods, and the 5th/6th period class was more team taught. The content of the classes was still linked. One advantage I see for both student and teacher is that the overall student load is lower. A teacher with two and a half blocked classes (5 periods of classes) has a student load of closer to 90, rather than 150. When there are essays or tests to grade, it's 90 at a time, rather than 150. There's probably going to be better feedback to students with that reduced load.
ReplyDeleteAs to the question about art - there was a mention of visual art as an elective. A survey was informally distributed to parents at the meeting, and students could answer it as well (just write student on the response):
1. Current grade and school of student:
2. What kinds of middle school elective course offerings are important to you child?
3. What are your concerns about middle school for your child?
4. What are the characteristics that you want in a middle school teacher?
5. Anything else? Please give the planning team any other information that you would like us to consider.
Sorry I was a bit flippant up above (9:42 PM).
ReplyDeleteWe've found that blocking LA/SS has many advantages and disadvantages for all students:
Advantages: Integrate the writing portion with the history (for example, writing an essay about ancient Greek societies) one teacher for all writing assignments (consistency); longer, more in-depth discussions (double period)
Disadvantages: scheduling is more challenging; some students would end up with a split block because teachers only get one planning period and would need to teach a single period to make up their day; bad fit of a teacher means twice the pain.
We've had mixed results--last year the teachers did a pretty good job of splitting up the work; this year not so good--we've had a lot of overlap. Both years the LA teachers have been poor fits for our kid's learning style so it's been a challenge and lack of consistency between teaching styles is contributing to the challenge.
Like anything else, it's better if it's all or nothing as the kids who have the double block seem to have a better experience. But maybe it's just the grass is greener? Not sure. Would love to hear from other folks who've had double block if there are any other disadvantages.