Letters to the Editor

LTA disagrees with decision

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to the Herald article “Arbitrator rules with D15 on longer periods” (Aug. 13-19), in which Lawrence Board of Education Trustee Dr. David Sussman is quoted as saying that the current schedule at Lawrence Middle School is “right for the children.” The Lawrence Teachers’ Association strenuously disagrees.

First, under the new schedule, the total amount of direct instructional time in themajor subjects — math, English, science, social studies and foreign language — has actually decreased since the 2007-08 school year. Instructional time has increased only in the specialty areas of art, music, technology, family and consumer science, and physical education.

Secondly, the new schedule has a detrimental effect on the delivery of Academic Intervention Services. Students that perform poorly in either math or English are mandated by the state Education Department to receive intervention services in their areas of deficiency as a supplement to their regular class instruction. Under the nine-period model used during the 2007-08 school year, these supplemental services were provided in an ideal form — during a separate class period.

Currently, students are being pulled from their classes in order to receive intervention services, since a designated period is no longer available. Unfortunately, this includes pulling students from the very subjects in which they were found to be deficient. By providing intervention to at-risk students in lieu of regular class instruction — and not as a supplement to it — the district is violating its own stated goals, state Education Department guidelines and common sense.

In addition, the lack of flexibility of the current schedule prevents appropriate student placement. For instance, fifth-grade resource-room students are unable to take an elective such as art, health or a foreign language. Also, new students will be added to classrooms containing 28 students instead of existing classes of approximately 15. While this defies logic, the lack of flexibility in the schedule leaves no other option