More options of upper-level classes will be available to Dexter High School students in the near future.
Nine new International Baccalaureate (IB) courses were approved by the Dexter Community Schools Board of Education during its meeting Monday night.
The new courses were approved with a 4-2 vote from the board, with Trustee Dick Lundy absent. Trustees Julie Schumaker and Bonnie Everdeen voted against the proposal.
Among the courses approved were IB French (standard level), Accelerated French 1 and 2, IB World Religions (standard level), Physics (standard level), IB Physics (higher level), Math (higher level), and Accelerated Spanish 1 and 2.
The courses will be offered in September for the 2013-14 school year.
According to a letter submitted by Dexter High School Principal William "Kit" Moran, the new IB courses are part of the phase-in of IB classes at the school. Since discussion on the courses began at the Nov. 5 school board meeting, the classes have gained a lot of support from students, faculty and community members.
"I strongly support IB classes and think the high school supports them as well," Schumaker said. "Seats in both AP (advanced placement) and IB classes have gone up about 50 percent in the last couple years. Being able to have both AP and IB offerings could attract more students to the district."
While she supports the IB classes, Schumaker was leery about approving a large amount of classes at one time.
"We should start small and let the program develop, mature and grow of the next couple years," she said.
Currently the IB classes are only open to juniors at the high school and have a lower enrollment than the six AP courses offered.
For the 2012-2013 school year, 49 students are enrolled in IB classes, of those 26 are diploma candidates.
"What we are being asked to do is approve the courses for offering, and if there's an adequate demand for them, that determines if they'll be offered," trustee Michael Wendorf said. "I like to hear what the demand is and give kids the chance to succeed down both paths."
The IB diploma program at DHS consists of six groups of study: language and literature, language acquisition, individual and society, experimental sciences, mathematics and computer science, and the arts. For students to achieve the IB diploma, they must take six classes, one from each group, take a minimum of three (but no more than four) higher level classes and complete all assessments, take the Theory of Knowledge class and complete all assessments, write the extended essay and fulfill the program's "Creativity, Action and Service" outcomes.
"IB classes have more required assessments than AP courses," Moran said. "Students are called upon to do more things."
In other action:
- Student representative Andrew Milkey announced that the students are holding a "Gold Rush" for Tuesday's boys' varsity basketball game. Fans are encouraged to wear gold as the Dreadnaughts take on Pinckney
- Denny Desmarias scheduled to meet with the school board Friday as a potential interim superintendent.
Finally, who voted no on the additional IB course offerings? And why isn't the Patch giving coverage to the Dexter Squall article on the IB program?
And I would be VERY interested in seeing the "reading material" they plan on using in IB World Religions. You KNOW that course is going to be top-heavy pro-Islam, without a doubt in my mind.
“We decided we were not going to do it with teachers because it defeats the purpose of the buyout plan,” Desmarais said." He should fit right in at Dexter and continue to do the biding of the Board. Why there is no internal candidate that the Board hasn't tapped is curious. Here we have Sean Burton, former ski resort operator, who was hired as the Transportation Director and shortly thereafter is sitting as the Executive Director of Support Services. Or how about highly touted Jami Bronson nominated for National Association of Secondary Principal award in 2011 and made Mill Creek a "School to Watch" and she got Dexter in the top 10% of Michigan Schools with the highest achievement gap between top achievers and everyone else. Why go outside-go the Dexter Difference!
There will be a Title IX discussion at Dexter High School Center for Performing Arts on Tuesday, December 11 from 6:30-8 p.m. Chandra Bowling, attorney for the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights will host the informational session about practical implementation of the 1972 legislation that protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities which receive federal financial assistance. The girls basketball game between Manchester and Dexter has been rescheduled because of the event. The teams will play on Wednesday, December 12 at 7 p.m.
Recording is limited by battery life to 2 hours and the meeting was three hours long, so the last hour was not recorded. The missing portion concerned sponsorship of school events for fundraising which was generally thought to be a good idea, as long as it is in good taste and involves "sponsorships," not "overt advertising." Some policy adjustments would need to be made.
Your contributions to the Patch during the election were so informative and as one who had voted for you, I had hoped that your open communication with the community would continue after you secured your position. Time will tell. Anyway, enjoy, take care and be well.
Dick Lundy was absent from the meeting.
I did read every word of the journalistic article, including..."The new courses were approved with a 4-2 vote from the board, with Trustee Dick Lundy absent." So again, I am asking someone to tell me who voted no and what reasons that may have been given. Or does Lundy have to clear the release of information since you made a point that Lundy was absent from the meeting? On a separate note, Lundy has been absent from a number of meetings, except if you consider his times of attending the meeting via a phone line...which I think is not allowed or being considered unacceptable by the State. And since the Patch is diligently (sic) following up on readers questions; look forward to hearing more details about Desmarais and the when and where for the scheduled meeting he has this Friday with the Board. Or I guess I can we wait for the usual press release (article) that will be posted as news. Anyway, I love the other numerous holiday related articles as we approach the holidays...great things for me to link to on my Facebook.
If you can't paraphrase what others said (those that may have matched your opinion and those that may have not), then what is the point and what value can you bring to the Board? I didn't expect the..."well I will listen to what you say, participate in the meeting, but if you want to know what was said, where things stand and how that reflects on the issue one is concerned with...well, just watch the video yourself...thank you very much..." Your response is about as insightful as reading the meeting minutes that are currently generated and approved for public consumption.
Julie Schumaker's comments were clear and well-stated at the meeting. Summarizing them would only make them less so, in my opinion. I have been misquoted and mischaracterized by people sharing what they think I said, and I don't care for it much. That's part of the reason I tape the meetings and post them. I'd rather hear directly from people than have the information filtered and condensed through meeting minutes.
So it sounds like the school gets to choose which religions to study. I don't know if it would be the instructor, Mrs. Lund or the curriculum staff, but there is a choice about what to cover.
Now I hope that the link to your taping stays up for awhile so I can review what myself and others who want to know what happened with more detail at the meeting that you were there to listen to and share the taping of (or until the battery died and now no one can get an overview from your perspective). That is what I and others need to do, right? So please answer this if you feel comfortable. But first, I can certainly appreciate the delicacy of the situation if you don't answer nor respond. How can one who does not attend the meetings be able to know what has happened at the meetings with the level of detail that your taping provides since you can no longer tape as you become part of the meeting as a trustee? I now know that I can not expect any summarizing or overview from you. Enjoy, take care and be well and my apologies if I mis-characterized or misquoted any or all of your statements related to this topic. You made it very clear how much you disliked that. Certainly will not be any easier to manage that issue as you officially step into your role as an elected public servant.