A recent letter to the editor published by the Gazette called into question a commitment to ensure that all teachers provide, and all students have access to, instructional opportunities to help them meet or exceed curriculum standards.
The writer confuses state and federal educational mandates — designed to implement and provide appropriate educational supports and services for special populations — with a demand to treat some children as “gifted” learners. This error overshadows our commitment to meet the needs of all learners based on our belief that all of our students have special gifts and talents.
Several years ago, our district agreed that we have one overarching goal in all that we do. Coming together, as our letterhead notes, as “Six towns, One K-12 community,” we reaffirmed our commitment to “… improve student performance (and) instructional strategies to address the needs of all learners.”
To reach this goal we continually evaluate, review and revise the learning opportunities and instructional practices we provide to our students to ensure they are academically, personally and intellectually challenging and engaging.
It takes a united and empowered community to affirm and articulate a strong philosophy statement like the one included in the Williamsburg family handbook which reads:
“We wish to guide our children toward a lifelong love of learning for its own sake; toward an appreciation of the limitless power of knowledge; toward a vision of the future founded on lessons of the past; toward reverence for health of mind and body; toward dedication to principles of truth, friendship and justice in human affairs; and toward a desire to enjoy, to enhance and to preserve the beauty of the world in which their children will one day live.”
All teachers differentiate their teaching and practice their craft with pride and care. Addressing curriculum rigor and relevance is a hallmark of their planning and instruction.
The school superintendent works with the school committee to focus on precisely the components of school governance and oversight the writer alleges we dismiss.
We do so responsibly and thoughtfully within the broad structures of school policies and budgets.
Just as teachers and school administrators must address the social, emotional and academic achievement of all students, the superintendent and school committee must — and do — work together to ensure that our schools are safe, vibrant and inclusive community anchors dedicated to providing all students with rigorous educational opportunities.
Craig Jurgensen is superintendent of the Hampshire and Chesterfield-Goshen regional school districts, and the public school districts of Southampton, Westhampton, Williamsburg, and Worthington.