Board approves ‘concept’ of middle school reform

Changes taking effect in the 2008-09 academic year include a uniform schedule of 90- and 45-minute periods in a two-day rotation and new gifted science and math programs.

Looming for the 2009-10 school year, however, are more reform efforts that will depend on how much money the school board can allocate during next year’s budget deliberations.

Those changes range in cost from $1.2 million to $4.6 million, depending on the number of staff hired.

School board member Donna J. Crook was the lone dissenting vote at last week’s meeting, indicating that without enough information on funding for the 2009-10 school year, she had a hard time supporting any initial steps.

‘‘There is a road we are starting to go down,” she said, ‘‘and we’ve heard before that once we start [on that road], it is hard to turn back.”

Superintendent Linda D. Burgee said ‘‘before we request one additional penny” for the reform, more information would come to the board on the proposals. She also addressed concerns about a large budget item next year.

‘‘Four million dollars is not a lot to reform an entire third of your instructional program in a 40,000-[student] system,” she said. ‘‘It is a lot when you look at it as $4 million ... so we want to be sure it is invested wisely.”

While that issue will be addressed in the future, one current concern is how those at the heart of the reform – parents and students – will be informed about changes coming to their schools.

Before the board’s discussion, Frederick parent M.C. Keegan-Ayer said she had a lot of ‘‘unanswered questions” regarding the proposed changes. Material available online is mostly in ‘‘educational lingo,” she said, which all parents may not understand.

School board member Katie B. Groth expressed a similar sentiment, asking how parents of current fifth-graders have been informed about the changes, which will involve more course selection in sixth grade to chart a course of interest into high school.

‘‘I’m concerned we’ve not done a super-good job of involving elementary school parents,” Groth said. ‘‘We have a complicated new set of decisions for these kids to make ... so we need to engage families better than we have been doing.”

Paul Dunford, instructional director of middle schools, said on Tuesday that in response to those concerns, school officials are preparing a brochure, available later this spring in print and online, for fifth-grade and middle school parents and students outlining the entire thought process behind the council’s recommendations.

Noting Keegan-Ayer’s concerns, Dunford said ‘‘there is no doubt in my mind we can put this in a language acceptable to the community.”

‘‘We want to go beyond just looking at the ‘frequently asked questions’... and want all those involved to see the whole picture of what’s ahead,” he said.

The cost of reform

Three budget scenarios were presented to the school board as part of the Middle School Council’s middle school reform recommendations. Next year, the board will decide which level of funding to choose.

Exemplary standards ($4.6 million): Accept all recommendations, including 71 new staff members in county middle schools.

Moderate standards ($4 million): Accept most recommendations, 37 new staff.

Minimum standards ($1.2 million): Accept minimum recommendations, 16 new staff.