news-record.com

NEWS

New school would have longer days

Article
Comments (6)

Monday, February 8, 2010

(Updated Tuesday, February 9 - 12:17 am)

By J. Brian Ewing
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO — School officials are proposing a middle school program with longer days and a longer school year as a way to close the achievement gap.

They also want to house the program in the former Allen Jay Middle School.

Their proposal goes before the Guilford County school board tonight. It calls for a school with a longer academic year. Classes would be held from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to noon on two Saturdays each month.

Beth Folger, the district’s chief academic officer, said the school would provide increased rigor with strict attendance and discipline guidelines.

Parents would also be called on to commit more time to their child’s success, she said.

The proposal mimics the structure of KIPP schools. KIPP, or Knowledge is Power Program, is a national charter school collective whose core feature is more time in class.

Keith Burnam is the school leader for KIPP Charlotte middle school, where 98 percent of the students are African American, and 70 percent receive a free or reduced-price lunch.

Members of the school’s inaugural class more than doubled their rate of proficiency on state exams last year, with 79 percent of students proficient or above in reading and 83 percent proficient or above in math.

But, Burnam said, not every student is thrilled about the longer days.

“I don’t think KIPP is the answer for everyone, but it’s the answer for a lot of kids,” Burnam said.

Guilford County school board member Carlvena Foster, whose district includes the old Allen Jay, said Monday that she would like to see a middle school for low-performing and at-risk students.

Foster’s district includes five of the school district’s 10 schools designated low-performing by the state.

Allen Jay Middle closed as a middle school in 2007. It was used by students and teachers from Union Hill Elementary while their new school was being built. The new Union Hill opened this fall.

The new middle school program could draw students from Union Hill and Allen Jay elementary attendance zones.

Allen Jay Middle is set for $12.1 million in renovations under the 2008 school construction bond.

The new program at Allen Jay Middle would be for fifth through eighth grades, beginning with a fifth-grade class and adding a grade level each year.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com

Accompanying Photos

Margaret Baxter (News & Record)

Advertisement | Advertise with Us

Comments

View Comments

This article has been closed to new comments. Comments are generally closed after 14 days. However, comments may be closed earlier at the discretion of the News & Record.

Inappropriate content? Please report abuse.

nippded twistle

February 8, 2010 - 1:05 pm EST

Putting low performing and at risk students in a abandoned school house makes a lot of sense if you want to seal their fate of being low performing and at risk. If this goes through you should use the name Allen Jay Middle to keep with the low performance motif.

Interested

February 9, 2010 - 7:46 am EST

Unless the building is dilapidated (at which point, would it have a COP?), the facility should not "seal their fate." If I am not mistaken, low performance usually refers to math and reading/writing scores. You don't need a shiny new lab to learn to read or apply mathematical logic. You need committed students, dedicated personnel, and time to learn lessons and practice new skills.

elsoots

February 8, 2010 - 1:27 pm EST

where is the childen from Allen Jay going to school. thay should no let a good building to go bad sell it are give to use from the pople of
allen Jay

Unaffiliated

February 8, 2010 - 1:46 pm EST

Will this be a "twilight school"?

forusa

February 8, 2010 - 8:31 pm EST

It makies a lot of sense to use the former Allen Jay Middle School for middle school students. Some students in this area currently attend Jamestown Middle School which has a very large student population. These students could attend the renovated Allen Jay Middle School. Allen Jay is a small school that may work better for at-risk students. Not sure the charter school is the way to go but will reserve judgement until more info is provided.

hgals01

February 9, 2010 - 7:39 am EST

It's not about Quantity, but about Quality. Why practice 4 hours of wrong thing, while you could practice 1 1/2 of the right thing. We need to do many more studies on how we can measure learning, much more creative ways. Before implementing this proposed longer day you need to evaluate the curriculum, and give the teachers much creative ways to teach our children. Finally you would have think creative ways to give teachers higher pay for this program. This could be challenging in this recession, and taxes are very high already.