A month after fighting to stave off a state takeover of seven middle schools, Baltimore Schools Superintendent Bonnie Copeland and School Board Chairman Brian Morris announced a 10-point plan Wednesday at Calverton Community Academy to address the city?s struggling middle schools.
Morris said the School Board proposal would direct $21 million from the fiscal 2007 budget into new and ongoing programs targeted at changing the current middle school model. He said the erasing of the school system?s deficit next year will save $23 million, creating money for the initiatives.
The largest component in the plan is the continued expansion of K-8 schools, which have been more effective than middle schools in educating sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. Currently, there are 17 K-8 schools in the city; next year, 18 elementary schools will add middle grades in their building.
Another key element is the hiring of up to 120 additional certified reading and math teachers to reduce the size of those core curriculum classes.
The draft also addresses a need ? stressed by educators, administrators, city politicians, parents and Calverton students in attendance ? for more student support services, such as guidance counselors and mental and physical health care providers.
“We need more counselors,” said Chanel Howard, an eighth-grader at Calverton. “The one-on-one counseling and the peer mediation does work, but it is important who they hire, too.”
Chanel and classmates Keishawna Fields, Ne?kia Perry, Kevin Rice and George Parks, Partners in Progress members, said they intend to return to Calverton next year to mentor and tutor.
“Middle school is difficult because you have a lot peer pressure, a lot of family issues and then a lot drama in school on top of that,” Chanel said.
Baltimore City elementary school test scores have improved in recent years and the School Board is shifting its focus and recognizing that transitions to larger middle schools has been part of the problem. The board, and state Sen. Nathaniel McFadden and Del. Salima Marriott, who both spoke at the press conference and voiced their support for the reform proposal, as well as parent advisory board leader Michael Carter and Calverton Principal Majorie Miles, also emphasized the need for greater community involvement.
“We need to go out and identify resources and partners in the community, in the neighborhoods outside the schools and bring them in,” Miles said. “There are people that have a lot to offer our students and they have to become a part of this process if we are going to be successful.”
The reform draft will be available for public comment at a meeting at 6 p.m. May 24 at the School Board offices on North Avenue.
