On September 1, 2020, WCBOE provided class schedules to students. To our surprise, there was no priority on the most important four core subjects of Math, English, History, and Science. Instead, each student received only two core subjects and the other two being filler classes. This means that each student receives only two core subjects for each half of the school year. WCBOE has had ample time to get this right, which they apparently have not. Here is a sample schedule of a student, which outlines the class assignments for each quarter of the school year:
In order for the school system to teach a core subject in 4 months flat, WCBOE must remove certain lessons or content within the standard lesson plan in order to reduce the time it takes to complete the course in half the time. The quality of the curriculum is designed to be taught over an entire school year, and this botched practice will compromise the quality and completeness of providing an adequate education. The school system could not even achieve such a plan on an ordinary day with in-person instruction, let alone their ability to achieve this in a virtual learning environment.
In the WCBOE Recovery Plan, it is stated that "Under the leadership of Dr. Rick Briggs, Chief Academic Officer, the team worked to establish instructionally sound options, schedules, and structures that were equitable for all learners as well as professional learning opportunities for staff. The Recovery Plan was developed and will be implemented with the goal of ensuring there are no obstacles to accessing educational opportunities while providing every student equitable access to educational rigor, resources, and support to maximize academic success and social and emotional well-being. A full virtual learning model will be delivered through enhanced distance learning practices. Engagement of all students in well planned and robust virtual learning greatly reduces the risk of sudden changes to students’ instructional program that would likely occur during COVID-19.”
How can a student complete Math, Chemistry or be proficient at their grade-level English in such a short period of time? Something must give, and the outcome of scholastic achievement must be manipulated in order for this to work out for the establishment of the school system (at the expense of our children). What will the criteria be to determine if a student will be ready for the next course? Will the assessment data also be skewed to accommodate the dysfunctional incompetence of the system? The undeniable truth is, any high standard of education will be grossly affected. Parents and teachers are guaranteed the right to a quality education for their child, and it's currently not happening.
In addition, it's unfair that teachers are expected to teach quality in a fraction of the time, regardless of a student's individualized capacity to learn. Meanwhile, the school system will assess those teachers based on the outcome of their teaching performance. Teachers should not have to deal with such chaos.
We call on parents to file complaints and demand that WCBOE fix their schedules by September 8, 2020 to include all four core subjects year-round. Failure to do so will not justify the $17,274 that WCBOE is receiving to provide a subpar education to your child - a standard much lower than other developing world countries. This is highly unacceptable.
We encourage you to contact the WCBOE board members to file a complaint and let them know your opinion of their inadequate plan to educate your child. Do not accept their boilerplate responses that they commonly use to dismiss your valid concerns. We only have one shot at this, and we must get it right.
WCBOE Board Members
Donald Fitzgerald - dfitzger@wcboe.org
Gene Malone - gmalone@wcboe.org
Allen Brown - abrown@wcboe.org
John Palmer - jpalmer@wcboe.org
Tonya Lewis - tlewis@wcboe.org
Michael Murray - mmurray@wcboe.org
Ann Suthowski - asuthowsk@wcboe.org
Fellows & Editors
September 1, 2020 Copyright DelmarvaPTC.org 2020
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