Mr. Moore of Kent must resign or be replaced by the Kent Board Of Education. Why? Here is Mr. Moore’s comment after last nights vote to The Republican-American…
“A budget is supposed to be a statement about educational priorities,” said board Chairman Jonathan Moore of Kent. “Apparently, the Region 1 voters believe that political agendas are more important than education. It’s a shame.”
This budget will go NOWHERE with comments made like this It is not the public that does not understand what is going on, this points out how out-of-contact the board chair is with reality.
That’s his story and, by George, he’s sticking to it — no matter how many times voters stick it to HIM.
Totally blind to the elephants in the room. . .
In regard to this situation I have made it a practice to keep my comments factually based, but this comment and Mr. Moore’s comment in yesterday’s Republican American “The voters should vote yes to put the students first,” Moore said Monday. “Enough harm has been done to them for reasons that have nothing to do with them.” has me seething. There is nothing at all political about this vote. On the contrary, this vote, it seems to me is about how the students at the high school have been short-changed by a central office administration who apparently encouraged the former principal, at the very last minute, to substantially and irrevocably effect student learning and choice. All of this was done with a lack of thought and thoroughness as to the consequences. Further, this Board of Education’s majority is equally to blame for failing to do its due diligence by vigorously insisting that it was inappropriate to make such a change so late in the budget process without a real discussion about the timing and reasoning for such a move, to say nothing of the long term consequences. The same can be said of the Board’s decision regarding the appropriate rollout of the IPad program and administrative contracts. For Mr. Moore to continue to insult the people who pay the bill and for the majority of the members of the Board of Education to allow his comment to stand as if he represented the entire Board is a clear indication of who is ruling the roost and surely it is not the membership of the Board of Education as it should be! I could go on, but I won’t.
Patricia Allyn Mechare
Well said Pat.
Dense? He’d love to!
Mr. Moore’s, and it would appear central office’s, agenda is in no way defined by what is best for students at HVRHS. Next week, when students come back to Housy, many of them will be entering classes larger than any they have encountered before. Although the principal promised an average class size of between 15 and 18 students, depending on the subject area, there are dozens of sections running well into the 20s and, in many cases, at capacity. This is particularly true in H level classes, where only one section is being offered when two are needed. There is also a huge disparity between section numbers. Imagine two students entering a junior year social studies class. One will enter a section of 21. Another will enter a section of 7. They will have drastically different learning experiences over the course of the year (care to guess which student will have more individualized learning?)
Why is no effort being made to ensure that class sizes are more consistent? The administration of central office is writing this off as an inconvenience for teachers. In fact, it is a student issue. The assistant principal seems to know what the high school’s kids need—what they deserve–but isn’t empowered to fix what was left broken by his predecessor. Keep central office out of such decisions. Let those with high school experience, and a vision for success, run the school.