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Middle schools may not be answer for Jackson County
To the Editor:
An editorial in the May 18 edition supported creating a middle school for Jackson County. The reasons identified in the editorial and in a companion article were 1) funding for a school resource officer; 2) some eighth-grade students in the county not being able to take an eighth grade trip; 3) special needs of students in this age range; 4) opportunity for a more challenging curriculum; and 5) athletic specialization/competition.
Charles Freeman completed a doctoral dissertation in 2005 at Western Carolina University that provides information useful in addressing these reasons for creating a middle school.
Funding for a school resource officer – is the funding available only to middle schools and not K-8 schools or is the funding a matter of school size? If it is a matter of school size, then issues regarding school size should be considered. If a middle school were created, it would be larger than the currently existing schools.
Evidence is consistent in indicating that larger schools have more discipline problems per capita than smaller schools. If the funding for the school resource officer is available only for middle schools, then we need to work to have those policies changed.
Eighth-grade students not having an opportunity for a special trip – If a special student activity is deemed important enough, then surely some solution could be generated that would be workable for all involved without creating a new school structure.
Special needs of students in this age range – It is not clear how creating a middle school would address these special needs. After all, we would have similar students and the same teachers in a new school as we have in our schools at this time. Actually, evidence from a 1987 study suggests that students at this age who need special attention are better served in a K-8 environment than in a middle school environment. Problems are created when students at this age make transitions, particularly transitions to new schools.
Opportunity for a more challenging curriculum – It is true that larger schools are able to offer a greater variety of courses. However in course areas that are similar across schools, students in smaller schools have higher achievement scores than those in larger schools.
The reason seems to be a greater sense of identity within the school and with what the school is trying to accomplish. This greater sense of identity leads to a higher level of motivation for academics.
Athletic specialization/competition – in The Herald’s editorial, it was stated that “Any change to a middle school should be based on what’s best for academics.” The arguments above support a K-8 organization for academics. However, another major advantage of small schools is that more students are able to participate in extra-curricular activities, including athletics. Except for the possible addition of football in a new middle school (a very expensive proposition), athletic participation in a middle school would decrease.
For example, a middle school would have five starters on the boys basketball team and five on the girls. There are 20 starting positions on each type of team in the current structure.
In the research described in the above mentioned dissertation, Freeman compared all K-8 schools in North Carolina with all middle schools and junior high schools in the state on reading/math achievement and attendance.
Students in K-8 schools had higher achievement in both reading and math and better attendance. These differences were not due to achievement in the previous school year, school size, nor the percentage of lower-income students in the school. Interviews with teachers and principals in middle schools, K-8 schools, and junior highs suggested that if students were sufficiently competent socially, emotionally, and academically, then a transition from a K-5 school to a middle school would make no difference. On the other hand, if a student needed a little extra help in one or more of these areas, then the K-8 environment seemed to provide the needed personal support much better.
If our decision about having a middle school is to be based on academics, then Freeman’s study indicates that our children will have higher achievement and better attendance in the currently existing K-8 schools than they would in a larger middle school. Besides, we need to continue our trend-setting ways. School systems in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Colo., Detroit, Harrisburg, Pa., Hartford, Conn., Palm Beach, Fla., and Phoenix, Ariz., are following our lead and are considering or have recently implemented K-8 grade-span configurations in a movement away from middle schools.
Robbie Pittman
Bruce Henderson
Cullowhee
Lake is Glenville, not Thorpe
To the Editor:
Your May 18 article regarding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s proposed environmental assessment mistakenly referred to Lake Glenville as Thorpe Resevoir. To the best of my knowledge the main power plant, is the only Duke property in Jackson County that still carries the name Thorpe. It is named Thorpe Plant. Unofficially in 1997, after nearly 15 years of negotiations, Nantahala Power and Light Co., at the request of the Glenville community, renamed the lake “Lake Glenville.” (The lake’s original name was Glenville Lake, but Nantahala renamed the project “Thorpe” in the 1950s.) However, Nantahala forgot to notify all of the appropriate state and federal agencies and mapping organizations. This error was corrected at the request of the Friends of Lake Glenville and The Glenville Community Development Club in about 2002-2003, at which time Duke notified and obtained the necessary approvals from all agencies for the lake to be officially named Lake Glenville. Shortly after, Duke renamed the dam Glenville Dam. It will probably take the next 20 years for all maps to reflect the new/orignal names – Lake Glenville and the Glenville Dam.
Phil Fowler
Glenville
Current school calendar doesn’t allow time for families
To the Editor:
With the change in schedule for our school year and the football schedule what had been a 2.5-month summer has now been shortened to approximately 1.5 months.
This creates many challenges for families not only here but for relatives from outside the area who are trying to coordinate time with families with their own schedules. Each year we must consult our children’s sports schedule to plan time together, since each of our sports programs has camps as a part of the program. Most begin in July; others start even sooner. There is absolutely no time for families to be families and enjoy the summer.
If the sports schedules are not changing, then to begin school in early August and get out mid-May certainly works better for families in my situation. Our prior school calendar makes very logical sense.
To begin mandatory camps before the end of July really cuts in to family activities and the ability of students to be involved with other activities, which are a positive component to development.
I have contacted our state representatives in hopes of having our schedule revert to early August/mid-May schedule. If you want the old schedule back for these same or different reasons, contact our state representatives now. This summer is lost, but maybe we can get back next year’s.
Robin Pond
Whittier
Educators should avoid ‘bandwagon effect’ in school decisions
To the Editor:
To the frustration of thoughtful teachers, parents, students and community members, educational policies often stem from the “bandwagon effect.” This often results from the “knee-jerk reaction” which refers to educational policies that are implemented without adequate research, analysis and thought.
Several years ago, Jackson County Schools undertook a series of community meetings to investigate the question of whether the county should create a countywide middle school. Both community sentiment and available information about middle schools came out strongly in favor of maintaining the present K-8 configuration. Thus, I was disappointed to read The Sylva Herald editorial of May 18, advocating a middle school. This was a knee-jerk reaction to an isolated drug incident at Smokey Mountain Elementary School.
If Jackson County begins a new investigation into this old question, I hope it will be conducted thoughtfully using both community input and available research to analyze the pros and cons of a large, consolidated middle school for Jackson County vs. the small, community-based K-8 schools that already exist.
I have posted several excellent research and policy articles about the costs and benefits of small schools and school consolidation on my Web site for those interested in thoughtful analysis of this issue – http://paws.wcu.edu/mherzog. Just click on “Small, Rural Schools & School Consolidation” which is at the top of the page.
Mary Jean Herzog
Cullowhee
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