NORWICH – Despite the re-institution of the January Regents Exams, changes to the Norwich City School District’s schedule will remain in place, according to Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan.
On Aug. 3, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced private funding in the amount of $1.5 million that would allow schools statewide to once again offer the exams. In June, the NYS Education Department announced it would eliminate the January exams due to state budget cuts.
According to O’Sullivan, the NCSD calendar will move forward as planned, with no return to a semestered schedule. All signs, he added, point toward the eventual elimination of the January Regents, and the administration is “not going to put Norwich students in a position to go backward.”
In addition, O’Sullivan said he has not received any solid information from the NYSED on the re-institution of the January Regents and that “there would be costs” associated with any change of the schedule at this point.
“We don’t know what those costs are, but there would be costs,” he added.
According to a NYSED spokesperson, all January Regents Exams would be reinstated, minus those focusing on foreign language.
Last night, approximately 20 NHS students, parents and educators met with the Board of Education and O’Sullivan to hear the decision, one which they’ve protested for months due to its perceived negative impact on the school’s music program.
Mark Sands, who’s taught music for the district for two decades, was just one who addressed the board on the scheduling issue.
“After teaching at Norwich High School for 20 years in three different bell schedules, I can honestly say that the five bell, semestered schedule is in the best interest of all of the students at Norwich High School,” added Sands. “It should be re-instituted for this year.”
The heart of the debate involves a schedule that includes an 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. elementary school day, with the middle and high schools meeting from 7:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. And while class time at the middle and high schools will remain the same – at around 80 minutes per class – lunch periods will now run for 30 minutes rather than 40. From 2:15 to 2:45 p.m., middle and high school educators will now have a half an hour of collaboration time, as requested by a number of teachers, according to O’Sullivan.
Due to these changes, the high school’s orchestra, band and choir ensembles will be forced to meet during the same 40-minute block every day. According to members of the department, the new schedule will negatively impact each and every music student, particularly those who wish to participate in multiple programs.
Many of those students, say parents and educators, are considering music as a college major and as a future career.
Rebecca Sands – Mark Sands’ daughter and a graduate of NHS – said she’s concerned and believes the board should be as well. Miscommunication between the administration and the community has only added to both students’ and parents’ concerns with the district, she added.
“I have been to several meetings where administrative members have attended unprepared, lacking necessary materials to explain scheduling conflicts with students and parents, and have witnessed varying answers to the same questions about the schedule,” she stated. “Parents and students should not be getting several different answers to the same questions from the administration. It is frustrating and confusing to sit at these meetings and listen to administration change their answers between meetings only to explain that we the public must have taken their message out of context, misunderstood them or to hear that they too have ‘accidentally’ provided the wrong information.”
The younger Sands – who holds a Masters of Public Administration and has worked in the communications field – added she finds it extremely unprofessional not to deliver the same message to all those involved with the disputed schedule.
Said Sands, “In my line of work, if I provided such mixed and confusing messages, I would be fired.”
O’Sullivan has said that high school students – including those involved with its music program – would have the option to stay after school between 2:15 and 2:45 p.m. if they wished. Transportation would be provided in those instances, and teachers within the music program who wished to schedule that extra time with students would have the option to do so, he added.
Betsy Mahannah, whose grandson Josh has been involved with the district’s music programs since he was in fourth grade, has acted as the spokesperson for a group of students and parents who have met on a weekly basis to discuss the scheduling changes and their concerns. Last night, she reminded the board – and O’Sullivan – that “we’re not going away.”
“We have a lot of students and parents that are disappointed and disillusioned with this administration and its decisions regarding the music program. We believed that, when push came to shove, these educators and members of the school board would do what was best for this music program and our students,” said Mahannah. “We say ‘shame on you.’ We believe this to be a sad time for the Norwich High School and this community. It’s like mourning a huge loss for us.”