A handful of parents and teachers gathered at the Curriculum Center on St. Thomas Friday for the first in a series of meetings sponsored by the Board of Education that is geared toward addressing public concerns.
The initiative was an idea of the board’s Public/Private Sector Liaison Committee, which member Arah C. Lockhart said was looking for a way to interact more with local stakeholders – mostly parents that Lockhart said might not be aware of some of the board’s new policies, or even the role that it plays in the educational process.
"We tried doing meetings like this before, but I think the venue we chose ultimately impacted the participation and turnout," Lockhart explained. "But really, these meetings tie into our five-year strategic plan and the goals and objectives we have for really reaching the community and getting them more involved in what we’re doing.”
“We needed to create this opportunity for the public, and it was really time for us to stop talking about doing it and actually make it happen."
Lockhart’s committee co-chair, Mary Moorhead, added that similar outreach efforts had already been launched on St. Croix, with board members going to different PTA meetings to talk about the board’s new policies, particularly new graduation requirements and policies on bullying.
Speaking during the meeting, longtime music educator Leroy Trotman spoke about the need to provide music teachers with more opportunities for certification and re-certification, along with advanced classes that would help them shore up their music skills. Currently the public education system (grades K-8) puts students in general education classes, and Trotman said his experience suggested that’s the area that needs the most work.
"What we see is being taught now in these classes is not music education," Trotman said. "Music education deals with simple things like learning how to read chords; it allows the student to be moving independently through the elements of music."
Trotman said changing the system is a multi-part process that must first start with local music instructors identifying their real needs – either courses that they might need to take or resources they might need in schools. Then they should be given more opportunities for professional development, which Trotman said can be done with more collaboration between the Board of Education, Department of Education and the University of the Virgin Islands.
Lockhart said the board would look into developing such a policy.
Other speakers Friday spoke about the need for more parental involvement and asked board members to explain more about their new graduation requirements, which are expected to take effect in the fall of this year.
Board of Education member Winona Hendricks explained that the policy had been two years in coming and was developed in response to concerns that students were not graduating with the skills they needed to move on to college or start a career.
Hendricks said the board had required that students take four years each of math and English, but found that some were still in need of remedial classes after graduating, so the new policy looks at assessing the proficiency levels of students as they enter the ninth grade, then monitoring them as they move through high school.
Other provisions of the policy also provide immediate help to students who drop out and allow students to take online classes, Hendricks said.
The public forums continue May 25 on St. John and June 1 on St. Croix.
